After a summer of long meetings, negotiations, arguments and compromise, Sub-Board I, Inc, will remain an entity at UB.
It will not be the same organization it was in May, however. The University Union Activities Board no longer provides entertainment under the agreement brokered in June between the Student Association and SBI, and instead will focus mainly on marketing. SA now has exclusive rights to any entertainment on campus.
SA President George Pape said he believes UUAB, which was funded through SBI and scheduled school-wide concerts and comedy shows, was mismanaged by graduate students unconcerned with the program.
"It's something undergraduates take very seriously, and it's something graduates didn't," Pape said.
Under the new contract between SA and SBI, which was signed in August, SA will withhold the funding it previously provided to SBI for UUAB, amounting to $215,000.
With the extra money, SA has created an entertainment division that will serve essentially the same function as UUAB, only under the management of SA. Maggie Hausbeck, formerly the director of UUAB, has been appointed to head the new SA entertainment division.
All events held by the SA entertainment division will be free to all UB students. While SA holds exclusive rights to on-campus entertainment, SBI President Vinay Bendre said SBI is pursuing the possibility of holding events in the future.
The only other significant difference in SBI policies involves accounting fees levied by SBI, which provides accounting services for several organizations on campus.
The rates for accounting services were raised by as much as 15 percent for each organization. Bendre said the raise has nothing to do with the SA situation.
The current arrangement was completed in June, just as lawyers for SA were preparing for an official withdrawal from SBI. Both sides had refused to back down on key issues, and after SA officers walked out of a June 2 meeting, it looked as if SA's 30-year association with SBI was over.
Pape, along with SA Vice President Jocelyn Tejada and SA Treasurer Anthony Burgio, were demanding majority control of the SBI board. They made it clear that if they did not receive control of the board, they would formally withdraw from SBI.
SBI President Vinay Bendre, after consulting with members of the SBI board of directors, told Pape that SBI was not going to give any more seats on its board to SA.
"Giving eight seats on the board of directors is something we don't feel comfortable with," Bendre said at the June 2 meeting. "If SA feels there is a problem in Sub-Board, we can find ways to solve the problems. Getting a majority of the seats on the board is not the answer."
Subsequent to Bendre's refusal, Pape, Burgio and Tejada declared their intention to withdraw SA funding from SBI.
As SA was preparing plans for the withdrawal, the SBI board invited them back to the bargaining table for one final discussion, and a compromise was reached.
Under the compromise, SA would not receive any more seats on the SBI board of directors, but instead of continuing to contribute a majority of the budget, SA would contribute funds for everything except the "non-essential" student services - UUAB, the student-run radio station WRUB and Generation, a weekly student magazine.
SA accepted the compromise, and later offered to give control of WRUB and Generation magazine back to SBI, provided that SBI could find the necessary funds to support the two organizations.
SBI arranged for funding to support Generation magazine and WRUB by not replacing some staff members who quit.
Pape said he believes the new arrangement worked to the benefit of everyone involved.
"All around the table, everything is pretty much seen as everything being positive," Pape said.
Bendre agreed with Pape, and said in hindsight, he thinks it was fair of SA to demand either more seats on the board or a reduction in funding allocation.
"After numerous negotiations, both sides seem to be fair," Bendre said. He added that he will work to restore the SBI's lost funding and ability to provide entertainment.
"We are hoping to bring Sub-Board the old glory it had," Bendre said.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
