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News

Groups seek SFAC funding

Organizations such as the Forensic Society rely on financial support student fees provide

Cougar News Staff

The UH Forensic Society continued its quest for additional funding Wednesday, asking the Student Fees Advisory Committee for three times the fee allotment it received last year.

Michael Fain, the speech and debate group's volunteer director, said the Forensic Society is the only campus organization of more than 12 members that doesn't have a paid director.

The group is seeking a total of $165,267 for fiscal year 2006, including $62,000 for Fain's salary -- the same amount it requested last year.

SFAC ended up giving the group $50,720 in 2004.

"I've had to handle this organization from my office," Fain said. "We're simply not there. We cannot be."

He said in the absence of funding, the group has to rely on volunteer work.

"We've very proud of the number of folks we're able to involve with the absence of funding," Fain said, but he pointed out that a recent middle school tournament the group hosted had to be moved to a high school because there wasn't enough money to hold it at UH.

"I don't think this is what the University of Houston wants, us moving tournaments to high school campuses," Fain said.

The Forensic Society was re-established in 2002 after years of inactivity; this year, it involved more than 100 students in its activities, according to the group's SFAC presentation.

The team ranked No. 5 in the Novice National Championships held in March.

"(The group) cannot pursue further development due to its current level of funding," Fain wrote in the budget proposal.

Among the other groups holding hearings Wednesday was the Child Care Center, which asked for $101,417, the same amount as its 2004 request.

CCC officials said the center operates at a deficit, but takes measures to save money, including having some of the children enrolled there help with gardening and landscaping.

"Our children are happy to take part in these activities," Sherry Howard, the center's director, said.

Though the University agreed to waive the center's administrative fees and utilities, University Center and Associated Facilities Director Keith T. Kowalka said that hasn't helped the center get into the black.

"The waiver won't help us get out of the red ... but we will be very close," he said.

The center received its full request from SFAC last year.

In other business, the Department of Student Publications, which publishes The Daily Cougar, requested $177,958; the UC asked for $1.25 million in addition to its $1.9 million in dedicated fees; and the Department of Campus Recreation requested $475,609 on top of its expected $6.1 million in dedicated fees.

Wednesday was the first day of SFAC hearings this year. The meetings will continue Friday, beginning at 9 a.m. and ending at 3:45 p.m. Friday's Daily Cougar will include a schedule of that day's hearings.

With reporting by Matthew Blackburn, Bridget Brown, Matt Cooper, Tina Marie Macias and Jessica Robertson.
 

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