Last year, the Student Organization Resource Fund ran short on money and the board was forced to cut funding to any registered student organizations that requested money for off-campus activities. With the new school year, the University introduced the largest freshman class in school history as well as a hike in the student SORF fee from $10 to $14.

The SORF Board, comprised of undergraduate students, graduate students and advisers, decide what RSO activities to fund and to what extent through the course of six funding periods throughout the year.

Once the board makes its decisions, SORF sends its recommendations to the Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs for approval. The funds approved are given to the RSOs through reimbursements. Honorary speakers, trips, advertising and equipment are the most common items funded.

Eugene Bord, senior in business and last year’s treasurer of Alternative Spring Break, an RSO based around off-campus service trips, struggled with the new funding provision.

“It was horrible,” Bord said. “We were used to getting $10,000 a year from SORF on average. Last spring, our trips were in jeopardy, but we did a lot of fundraising.”

Many RSOs eager to take up endeavors off-campus protested the new standard, saying it was an arbitrary way to cut some groups from the money.

“The SORF Board decided that off-campus activities do not affect as many students,” said Lance Wright, a SORF administrator. “When deciding what was the first to lose funding, I think it was a good decision.”

With the resource fund swelling larger than the previous year, off-campus trips are being funded again. However, many RSOs still cry controversy when it comes to the SORF Board.

“People have heard that the SORF Board favors its friends or its own clubs, but no one has ever been able to point to a specific case and show it was fraudulent,” Wright said.

One of the student SORF Board members, Chris Foster, senior in LAS, insisted that SORF is impartial.

“When you run for SORF, you have to pledge that you won’t judge a club’s virtue based on their application,” Foster said. “Our guidelines are all about being objective.”

Most discontent revolves around the fact that SORF cannot possibly fund every request, Wright said. Each year, SORF receives about 600 applications for funding. That amounts to four times the funding available.

Collecting $14 from each student results in a large initial sum for SORF. From that, however, SORF provides more than $300,000 to fund the Tenant Union and Student Legal Services.

In addition, each semester, 500 to 600 students waive their access to these services and get their fee returned to them.

SORF considers itself a partnership with RSOs, never fully funding a request. Some applications receive a majority of their funding requests; others receive no funding.

“If an application is declined, it is usually because the application was done incorrectly or the guidelines and standards were not read,” Foster said.

Despite its complexity, many students rely on SORF and succeed in acquiring needed funds. Last year the Society for the Promotion of Indian Classical Music and Culture Amongst Youth received $5,810 to fund concerts.

“We are completely dependent on donations and funding from organizations like SORF because all (of the society’s) concerts are free,” said Rahul Biswas, a graduate student and the co-treasurer of the society. “So if we do not get the volunteers, funding and donations the organization would not be able to function. We are grateful to SORF for their funding and greatly appreciate their contribution to this cause.”

There is a lot of material on the SORF Web site to read through and become familiar with before understanding the process, Wright said.

Wright said he encourages all RSO treasurers to read through the Web site thoroughly and apply early for the best luck with SORF funding.