Request 1-Organization: Five College Martial Arts

Request Description: We are interested in holding weekly karate classes for any students that wish to come. We already have an instructor (sensei) willing to teach classes every Friday. However, our instructor lives in Pittsfield, MA and we\’d like to be able to at least reimburse him for the gas, if not also pay him for his services.
Line Item 0: Instructor cost for three weeks of services and instructor travel cost, $240

BC Recommendation: $48

BC Rationale: Of the five people currently participating in Five College Martial Arts, one is an Amherst student and the other four attend the various other Five Colleges.  Since Amherst Student Fees are primarily meant to fund activities in which Amherst Students participate, it was viewed as inappropriate for the Amherst Student Body to bear the cost of the Five College students short of majority participation by Amherst students or at least some sort of critical mass.  We thus recommended forty-eight dollars to pay the Amherst studet’s portion of the instructor’s fee and transportation (240/5=48).  We also suggested to Five College Martial Arts that, if it was so inclined, it could attempt to raise the number and proportion of Amherst students participating by collaborating with Amherst Mixed Martial Arts and advertising to the Amherst campus in the Fall (we would recommend $10 towards this advertising).  If this resulted in greater Amherst student participation, it would make AAS funding for the club’s expenses more justifiable.