Last night Student Senate voted to grant the Homecoming Committee $10,000 to plan this year’s Homecoming events. The Senate passed a bill adding $4,000 to the original $6,000 given to the Homecoming Committee.
The bill, which has been in consideration for a month, was fast-tracked through the Senate to secure a contract with an undisclosed performer to headline the PackHowl concert.
Homecoming Chair Adam Compton, said Homecoming is by far the greatest tradition on campus and he is glad to see it moving forward.
“Now we can bring in something better than local bands for the students,” he said.
Compton said four years ago, the Homecoming Committee received $15,000 from SG, but in recent years the amount has been cut to nearly a third. Aside from that, money for Homecoming is obtained from alumni donations and fundraising.
Compton said it was important for SG to support the increase because with the organization’s sponsorship, donating alumni would agree to fund any excess costs incurred outside of budgeted expenses.
Sen. Micheal Robinson was in opposition of the funding increase, insisting that Homecoming should be funded in a different manner, preferably with more involvement from the administration.
“In previous years the Homecoming Committee has gone over-budget by large amounts,” he said. “[The funding process] needs more oversight by the University.”
Robinson said next year’s Homecoming Committee has made plans to revamp the planning and budgeting process.
“It’s not so much that we went over budget,” Compton said. “The alumni took a risk by trying to make money by selling tickets on a big name performer.”
Compton said the Homecoming Committee contracted a well-known performer last year in response to student support and tried to meet the costs by selling tickets. However, ticket sales were not nearly enough to cover the costs and the donating alumni were asked to pay the excess.
“This year, by asking Student Government to sponsor Homecoming and paying for a performer upfront, we can avoid over-speculation as well as give students free tickets,” Compton said.
By sponsoring Homecoming, SG obtains title rights to Homecoming events such as the PackHowl.
Compton said this was an investment by SG, similar to buying ad space.
Student Body Treasurer Elmo Lamm, who was a sponsor of the bill, said SG has a surplus of funds and can safely afford this investment.
“The money used to sponsor events like this comes from student fees and we have a surplus from last year,” Lamm said. “The appropriated funds are prebudgeted and the Finance Committee can issue disbursements to fund events like this.”
Lamm said, no other events or programs were losing out because of SG’s sponsorship of Homecoming.