New Food Policy for Cultural and Religious Groups
For the school year of 2019/2020, every Category 3 cultural and/or religious student group is given $600 per semester to use at their own discretion as a pilot. An explanation for this policy can be found here.
The Undergraduate Finance Board passed a new policy increasing the amount of money that cultural and religious groups receive for discretionary spending per semester, as a pilot for Spring 2020. UFB’s standard policy is that all Category II and Category III groups receive $200 of “baseline” funding each semester, which is typically spent on things that UFB would not fund. This “baseline” has been increased from $200 per semester to $600 per semester for all Category III student groups categorized as “Cultural & Ethnic” or “Religious & Spiritual Life” as a one-semester pilot for Spring 2020.
Rationale for Changing UFB’s Policy
Over the past several years, UFB was made aware of the fact that many cultural and religious groups felt that UFB’s funding process was inaccessible to them and that UFB’s policies did not adequately support them. Specifically, the following concerns were raised:
1. UFB’s food policy is vague and places an undue burden on cultural and religious groups.
UFB’s current food policy, which will remain in place given this increased baseline, is, “UFB will fund food if it is integral to the event (i.e. a cultural event or a cooking demonstration). The Board will not fund food for an event if it’s used as an incentive. Additionally, UFB does not fund food for group meetings and/or general body meetings.” As a result of UFB’s criteria of food being “integral,” cultural and religious groups are often required to defend the importance of food to the board. This process has been frustrating and discouraging, and has often resulted in groups choosing to do outside fundraising to pay for food, rather than putting in the effort to request money from UFB.
2. UFB’s food policy requires UFB to make value judgements on cultures and religions that they don’t represent.
UFB’s requirement of food being “integral” forces the board to make value judgements on various cultures. This has been challenging for UFB to do, resulting in drawn out decision-making processes for food budgets from cultural and religious groups, and has been frustrating for the relevant groups. UFB’s increased baseline funding will prevent the board from having to make such value judgements in the future.
3. The challenges that UFB’s policies and procedures pose cause cultural and religious groups to spend a substantial amount of time fundraising, in order to pay for their normal operations.
UFB’s goal is to help all groups accomplish their missions. The amount of time that cultural and religious groups have been spending to seek outside funding sources suggests that UFB has inadequately been supporting the groups in the past.
4. It is important for UFB to recognize the work that cultural and religious groups do in creating spaces for historically marginalized groups on campus.
It is necessary to establish a distinction between cultural/religious groups and other niche groups who may also experience difficulty in obtaining departmental funding, and thus rely more heavily on UFB funding. Cultural and religious groups actively fulfill Brown’s mission to create spaces for historically marginalized identities, and UFB understands its major impact in the flourishing of these groups. It is essential that these communities exist at Brown and that UFB, the representative of the university’s support for these groups, is cognizant of its necessary role in ensuring their missions are fulfilled.
Process to Develop the New Policy
UFB reached out to all Category III student groups that are categorized as “Cultural & Ethnic” or “Religious & Spiritual Life” and organized a focus group discussion. The following groups were represented: Black Christian Ministries, Black Student Union, Brown’s Organization of Multiracial and Biracial Students, Muslim Students Association, South Asian Students Association, Korean Adoptee Mentoring Program, and Pakistani Students Association at Brown. The purpose of the focus group was two-fold: to understand the groups’ frustrations or challenges with UFB and its policies in the past, and to develop potential solutions to those challenges.
Once it became clear that increasing the amount of baseline (flexible spending) would be the most equitable solution, we discussed what dollar amount would be required per semester to meet their basic needs. The consensus was $600-$700 per semester, rather than the current $200 per semester. UFB discussed as a board and decided to offer $600 per semester for its one-semester pilot in Spring 2020 and then re-evaluate once there is some spending data whether that number should be adjusted.
Implications of the Policy Change
Cultural and religious groups will still be eligible to request additional money for food for larger events, but may not request additional funding for food for general body meetings. All food for regular general body meetings should be covered with this additional baseline funding.
For UFB, this policy change will represent an increase in projected spending per semester. There are 33 groups that would be granted this additional baseline funding. Since $600 per semester amounts to an increase of $400 per semester over the current $200 per semester, the overall annual cost increase for UFB is projected to be $400 / semester * 2 semesters * 33 = $26,400 per year. UFB anticipates that the actual annual cost increase will be less than $26,400 due to some groups not spending all of the funding. UFB allocates about $2.2M per year, so this amounts to slightly more than 1% of the fund. This increase in projected spending is not expected to result in an increase in the Student Activities Fee (part of every Brown undergraduate’s tuition).
Overall, UFB’s hope is that this policy change will resolve large structural challenges that cultural and religious groups have faced with UFB’s funding for several years and ensure those groups feel welcome and valued on campus. It will also hopefully re-engage those groups who stopped requesting money from UFB because of how frustrating that experience has been, allowing them to potentially gain access to additional funds that they would have received if requested. Finally, the policy will ensure that less time is spent on fundraising and more time is used to help spread awareness and appreciation for the various cultures and religions on campus, benefiting the whole student body.
Sincerely,
Julian De Georgia and Fatou Kabba, UFB Chair and Vice Chair