By Ehlayna NapolitanoStaff Writer
Issues that surrounded the funding of three on-campus a capella groups from SGA last month caused confusion and concern among the student body. Since the ruling, the a capella groups have begun to make decisions with SGA regarding their futures as clubs on campus.
President Alexis DiGregorio of Makin’ Treble, one of the groups affected, was concerned with the confusion.
“Initially, [my] group was really concerned because... there was a lot of miscommunication,” DiGregorio said. “SGA wasn’t clear during our initial meeting, probably because they had a lot of other groups to see.”
The miscommunication, she said, stemmed mainly from the fact that many of the groups were concerned about the future of their club status on campus because of the decision made by SGA.
Devin Brosnan, the Rules Chair for SGA, agreed that this miscommunication was the issue.
“Originally, the clubs got confused with what we were saying,” Brosnan said.
DiGregorio said that many of the people in her group were worried that if they were no longer funded by SGA, they would lose their status as a university-recognized club. However, they were also concerned that altering their constitution to remain under SGA would not be conducive to their long-term plans as a club either.
Their fears were unwarranted, according to DiGregorio.
“A lot of people think SGA is the be-all-end-all for clubs, which is not the case. You can be recognized without them,” DiGregorio said.
Billy Finnegan, PR Chair for SGA, confirmed this.
“There are plenty of other options [for funding], such as self-funding, which [other clubs] on campus do fantastically,” he said.
He also noted that SGA was upholding the anti-discrimination policies of the university overall.
“This is not targeting a capella groups,” Finnegan said. “It’s just upholding the anti-discrimination clauses.”
This, in the case of Makin’ Treble, is the future plan of action they are going to pursue.
“We just decided as a group that in the long run it would be more beneficial to us to disassociate with SGA,” DiGregorio said. “I really appreciate them reaching out to us, though.”
She said that she was very happy with the outcome of the events that have transpired. The miscommunications were resolved in a Rules Meeting that helped clarify and solidify plans for the club’s future.
“I went to an official Rules Meeting… we had a conversation about [the ruling] and that I thought it would be better to disassociate,” DiGregorio said.
Finnegan said that although this was the only group that has yet to come to them with a determined plan, he saw this as a good move.
“I think it’s going to be to their benefit, moving forward,” he said.
Both Finnegan and DiGregorio said that relations between the group and SGA are respectful and free of any tension. “There are no hard feelings,” DiGregorio said. “They have a job to do and so do we.”
For The Dutchmen, plans have yet to be decided. According to President Luigi Mondi, the group has been busy with a number of other events such as creating a memorial for Pete Teleha and also scheduling issues as a result of Hurricane Sandy.
“We are going to continue working with SGA to resolve this matter,” Mondi said. He is also a member of Sigmacapella.
The president of Hofbeats has not been available to comment at this time.
Currently, developments are still being made among these clubs. There has been a lot of communication in the past few weeks to clarify what the exact issue was with these clubs was and how they can move forward with their constitutions and clubs for the future. SGA felt that it would be best for the undecided clubs to make the decision based upon how their club functions within the school.
“[They] can still exist under OSLA… and we encourage them to leave if they feel being under SGA would alter their [nature] as a club,” Brosnan said.