After learning the fate of my organization’s budget request, I feel compelled to respond. This year marks a very significant one in the history of Hillel at Syracuse University. Beginning in January, Hillel will be celebrating its 60th year serving both the Jewish and non-Jewish community of SU, a feat unmatched by other organizations on this campus.

Hillel, in collaboration with the university’s administration, designated this academic year to be a celebration of this extraordinary milestone. This past Homecoming, Hillel received the Orange Circle Award for its efforts with the Gift of Life Bone Marrow registration drive, and in honor of the 60th anniversary, SU brought in a Jewish celebrity to entertain both current students and alumni. The university’s administration understands and appreciates the important role that Hillel plays to both its stakeholders and the undergraduate population at SU.

The Hillel Student Board decided during the spring 2010 semester that the best way to celebrate this milestone was to throw a concert that would engage a large number of students, not just the Hillel regulars. A budget was submitted and rejected last spring; the Student Association Finance Board failed to evaluate the merit of the event and subsequently rejected our organization’s proposal because of the price tag attached.

We received resounding support from the Office of Student Life, as well as from members of the SA General Assembly following the rejection of the first budget proposal. We were forced to push the event back an entire semester and asked to resubmit in the fall for the next budget cycle, which we did.

After meeting with SA President Jon Barnhart and Comptroller Jeff Rickert back in September to discuss the resubmission of our proposal, I was told that SA would be willing to help guide us through the budget process for the second time so we would see a positive result. Due to the relatively large request of funds with the previous submission, we were advised to scale back on the amount requested and submit a smaller request in October, which we did. We submitted our lesser request (with recommendations from Rickert) and were denied yet again by the Finance Board.

Hillel at SU is extremely disappointed and dissatisfied with the Finance Board’s denial of funding for the 60th anniversary concert for the second time. We feel the Finance Board did not look into what the event stands for, that being the engagement of students from all faiths coming together as one. This denial has shown the entire student body of SU that the Finance Board does not appreciate the work that Hillel does for this campus.

In light of these recent budgetary proceedings, the Hillel Student Board is weary of its support of uncontested SA presidential and incumbent comptroller candidates. Both promise to ‘Put Students First’ and ‘focus more on the merit of the programs that need funding,’ according to a Daily Orange article published on Nov. 4. We are upset that a budget proposal with such merit and substance behind it was yet again denied because of a price tag.

Some of the reasons the Finance Board gave were that ‘the event was not cost effective’ and that a concert would not ‘bring additional members into their organization.’ Hillel does not have a membership; anyone can be a part of Hillel no matter what faith the person belongs to. This 60th anniversary concert was an opportunity to celebrate the concept of inter-faith programming. We feel the Finance Board has squandered an opportunity based on lack of research on what the mission of Hillel at SU is: ‘Hillel engages students by deploying its staff to reach out to college students. Through engagement programming, Hillel draws these students into Jewish life with innovative and non-traditional activities.’ Hillel hopes that the next Finance Board will be able to properly evaluate the true merit of a program without analyzing its cost effectiveness first.

Matthew F. Wolfe

Hillel at SU financial vice president on behalf of the Hillel Jewish Student Union

 

Published on November 7, 2010 at 12:00 pm