Even during lean times, students can still count on free lunch

By Nathaniel Minor, for COJO 462 (Advanced broadcast reporting)

November 28th, 2009

At a time when the University of St. Thomas is cutting costs to balance shrinking budgets, it may be surprising that to find free lunch on campus is just as easy as ever.

Many student clubs provide lunch at their meetings, an expense that comprises most of each club's funds. While the St. Thomas administration is making cuts in academic budgets and other areas, most clubs continue to offer free food, in part because their funding does not come from the administration.

John Purdy, an advisor of the Advertising club said it’s a good use of money.

“It’s relatively inexpensive when you are talking about feeding 50 kids with pizzas and sandwiches,” Purdy said. “So it seems appropriate to give them some intellectual as well as nutritional nourishment.”

Purdy estimated his club spends 60 to 80 percent of their $3,000 yearly budget on food. Most of the rest of the money pays for students to attend professional events in the Twin Cities—an edge Ellery Luse, vice president of the Advertising club, said is vital to landing a job.

“You have to be really active; you have to have a lot on your resume when you are in college,” she said.

Some clubs charge a fee to join, but this money is usually for admittance to a professional organization. Being an active member of an organization is often required to attend conferences and events.

Luse said they provide food at nearly every meeting—especially if they want a good turnout. Freshman and sophomores are more likely to come to meetings for food, but juniors and seniors tend to be more dedicated club members, she said.

Junior Matt Schuld said clubs should not abuse the money they are given by padding their numbers.

“If clubs are offering free food to reward a dedicated base, that's one thing,” he said. “But if they are doing it just to get people to come, that's not OK.”

Luse said she had to fight for an increased budget this year to cover food costs, and admitted they could get by if her funding were cut in the future.

“We dealt with it before and we could do it again,” Luse said.

How often clubs meet varies significantly. Some, like the Theology club and College Democrats, meet nearly every week. Others, such as the sociology club gather only a few times each semester. Most though, convene about once a month.

Where does the club money come from?

In addition to tuition, students are required to pay an additional fee of $102 each semester. This ‘student activity fee’ is not controlled by the St. Thomas administration; it funds two student-run organizations.

About $345,000, or 60 percent, of the student activity fee this semester went to St. Thomas Activities and Recreation, an organization that sponsors speakers, activities and other entertainment for the St. Thomas community.

The other 40 percent, roughly $230,000, is allocated to the Undergraduate Student Government (USG). USG President Kevin Hampton said about $100,000 went directly to student clubs at the beginning of the semester. Student clubs must submit proposals to receive funding, indicating what the money will be spent on. Hampton said there are more worthy uses of club money than filling hungry students' stomachs.

“The idea of being a club at St. Thomas is that you are contributing to the campus atmosphere, you are improving campus life. And perhaps by spending your entire budget on food, you aren’t necessarily doing that for the benefit of the greater good,” Hampton said.

Hampton said there are no immediate plans to cut club budgets, but it may be considered in the years ahead. He said he plans to more intensly scrutinize budget proposals in the future.

“Maybe instead of giving them the amount they ask for up front, we’ll give them 75 percent,“ he said. “We try to encourage them to use their best judgement.”