A budget cut for UWG’s Department of Theatre is raising concerns for many students. At the Student Government Association Meeting held on April 11, the Department of Theatre’s budget cut was a hot-button issue, especially since the budget cut includes student travel funds.
The main concern of the theatre students is why their budget was cut to begin with. The students feel like there is no logical explanation for why their funding is being cut. The President of SGA informed the students that they were not the only organization at UWG that has received a budget cut. In fact, SGA itself has recently endured a cut in their budget as well.As this was SGA’s last meeting for the school year, many other issues were discussed as well. The President gave his farewell statement and votes were cast for Assembly Member of the Year as well as Freshman Senator. The SGA and Lambda Grab Bag Bill were also passed.
However, among these topics, the budget cut for the Department of Theatre was the most discussed. This meeting had the highest student attendance rate of the whole year. The only problem was that the students thought they would have a say in changing the overall decision, but the decision had already been made by the university. While many students came to the meeting to express their feelings about the cut and discuss its reasoning, the only option remaining is an attempt to appeal the university’s decision.
The main reason behind making the budget cut to the department was that a lot of the money that goes towards student travel could be paid by the department itself. Many organizations host events that are accessible for the whole student body, but a lot of students are unable to attend many of the events hosted by the Department of Theatre. The overall consensus was that the travel funds portion of the department budget does not benefit the student body as a whole and could also be funded by them. Therefore, the funds were cut.
The meeting went on without any other discussion of the department’s budget cut.
The sheer amount of inaccuracies in this article is appalling. I am a member of the Theatre department here at West Georgia and our concerns were not over the budget cuts themselves and that was never stated as one of our reasons for attending. Our problem was, however, that our ability to use that money for our travel to conferences was halted, while similar organizations such as the Music Department and the Debate team retained that right. Another concern was that the money taken from all of the organizations was used to fund an administrative position to oversee the use of the funds. This violates the rule that the money may not be used for professional salaries. Also, our auditions are open to the entire student body, so our travel can potentially benefit students outside of out Department, but, as with any organization, students need to show up. Overall, I would recommend checking your facts and conducting interviews to deliver less biased journalism.