NOTE: The BC does not actually allocate money; it only makes recommendations for the AAS to vote on.  No award is final until voted on by the AAS at its meeting at 830 in the Red Room in Converse Hall.

1. The Amherst Responsible Endowment Coalition requested $18.75 for 3 handbooks and $20 to cover their semester’s printing costs. The BC recommended full funding.

2. Global Rights of Women (GROW) requested $165 dollars to buy masks for a fund-raising masquerade ball. The BC recommended full funding.

3. Youth Action International requested $25 for food and $10 for publicity for their first event of the year. The BC recommended full funding.

4. The Swing and Ballroom Dance club came in with the most complicated and extensive request of the  week.

They requested $500 dollars for their end of semester dance, and the BC told them to come back to apply for funds when they had a confirmed date, venue and band for the event.

They requested $3200 for their competitive team coach, and $1000 for ballroom lessons and $1000 for swing lessons that are open to the college community. On this, the BC was somewhat divided. We have a past precedent of not exceeding $3000 in our contribution to the coaching fees of clubs that we sponsor, and so this request seemed to fall afoul of that, given that the coach for both the team and the open lessons is the same person.

Eventually we recommended funding $2400 for their competitive coach, which is within the normal range of BC funding for club coaches, and recommended full funding for both the swing and ballroom lessons. Although this might seem to break with precedent, the dominant argument in favor of giving them most of the funds requested was that the open lessons could be viewed not as coaching, but as a public service to the college community, and an event that was worth sponsoring. It was also argued that if the competitive team and the recreational club were separate entities, we would be willing to fund both activities.

They also asked for $67.50 for publicity throughout the semester. We agreed to fund $20 dollars of that, and told them to come back when specific events, such as the end of semester dance were held.

Finally there was a separate request for $100 for two end of semester lessons, which we told them to come back for later, when they had confirmed the event.

5. The Fun Police requested $500 dollars for various sound equipment (mostly of the sound-making variety), $1000 dollars for uniforms and $200 dollars to publicize athletic events throughout the semester.

We agreed to fund $500 for the sound equipment, and $200 for the publicity. We cut their uniform spending to $450, which allows them to purchase roughly 50 sets of badges and hats. The logic behind this was that we wanted them to gauge the amount of participation they would be able to regularly muster before granting them the rest of their requested funding. We hope they do get an overwhelming response, and come back to us for the rest. The BC also reminded them of the need to keep their uniforms for future use, as per standard policy of purchasing team/club uniforms.

6. Men’s Ultimate Frisbee needed $50 for registration fees. The BC recommended full funding.

7. The Amherst Equestrian Team’s first male member in 5 years needed $775 for a full set of show clothes so that he would be able to ride competitively. We recommended full funding, also reminding the team that the uniform needed to be retained for future use.

8. The Amherst Mountain Biking Team requested $450 for bike repairs, and a new bike rack. We recommended funding in full.

9. Men’s Rugby required $1050 for registration fees and requested $95 to pay for half of a trophy for that would serve as the prize for the winner of the Amherst v UMass Amherst game which is played every semester. The registration fees were uncontroversial and funded in full. The trophy struck some BC members as resembling a gift, which we traditionally do not fund, but since it was to be retained by Amherst most of the time (we hope), we decided to fund it in full as well.
10. Finally we discussed the issue of hotel rooms for travelling teams. Pending more data, we are working on a set of guidelines to determine when a team is eligible for funding.

Nic Zhou, 2010