The independent newspaper of Washington University in St. Louis since 1878 THURSDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2024
VOLUME 146, NO. 7
WWW.STUDLIFE.COM
Student Union Treasury is running out of money JACE SLONE
8 weeks into the semester, SU has already allocated 62% of its appeals budget for the full school year.
$475,000
total funding available for appeals
$400,000
total funding available for appeals
$252,396.83
allocated by Oct. 16
$172,144.83
allocated by Oct. 16
Last year
This year GRAPHIC BY SYDNEY TRAN
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
For the first time in recent memory, Student Union (SU) will not have enough money to support additional funding requests from student organizations for the 2024-25 academic year according to SU leadership, with some Treasury representatives jokingly calling it the “SU Recession.” Sources in Treasury say this issue came from last year’s Budget Committee over-allocating money to student organizations and clubs requesting more supplemental funds this year. In a statement on Sept. 30, Vice President of Finance and junior Meris Damjanovic said the Budgets and Appeals account, an account containing all the appeals or supplemental money allotted to student groups for the year, is currently at $190,937.98, compared to the $344,452.38 at this time last year. The remaining budget will likely last until the beginning of next semester. “That’s [enough for] six-and-a-half sessions, which would get us through the rest of this year and one session in the spring,” Damjanovic said. These low funds, according to Damjanovic, are partially from how SU Treasury’s Budget Committee restructured its funding this year. On average, student groups were allocated more money for their annual budgets at the start of the semester to minimize additional funding requests. These requests, also known as appeals, allow clubs to pursue programming beyond regular club meetings, such as attending national tournaments or conferences and
hosting speaker events that would otherwise be out of their budgets. As the semester has progressed, groups have continued to ask for more money than in years prior. Their appeal requests — not including initial money given as part of general budgets — have totalled $382,940.36 this year, compared to $207,244.00 at this time last year. However, SU does not accept all of these requests, with SU having allocated $252,396.83 so far this year, while $172,144.23 was allocated at this time last year. Because of the expected decrease in appeal requests and additional funds given to Spring WILD, the Budgets and Appeals account started with approximately $400,000 at the beginning of the academic year instead of the usual $480,000, which exacerbated the issue according to Damjanovic. Despite SU Treasury’s current monetary situation, Treasury approved $28,318.91 in appeals yesterday, including a $10,000 allocation to all SU-funded student organizations to pay for WUGO card check-in swipers to monitor club attendance. Damjanovic said that if SU runs out of money next semester, student groups will not get any funding through appeals, so clubs should make their appeals as soon as possible to ensure funding for their events. “Please submit your biggest events now [and] get that money out of the way because come March, April, we may not have that money,” Damjonovic said. “I’m trying to convey this early, because if groups need to start fundraising, that’s something that needs to start happening now.” As for possible solutions,
Damjonovic plans to withdraw some funds from SU’s Carry Forward account, the money reserved for future fiscal years, to potentially stretch SU’s budget this year. “I could fully deplete the Carry Forward account and we would be fine for this year, but that is not my intention. I want everyone to know that I am doing all that I can,” Damjonvic said. Christine Ling, Speaker of Treasury and a junior, said Treasury is doing the best that they can to remedy SU’s monetary issues. “I feel like although it is a difficult situation we’re all in, everyone is doing their absolute best to make the available funding stretch as far as possible,” Ling said. Katie Cho, Budget Committee Chair and a junior, hopes to change how funding is allocated next year. “I am meeting with the rest of the financial leadership at the end of this semester to create upcoming caps and expectations for the upcoming spring budget cycle,” Cho wrote in a statement to Student Life. “We will fund groups through supplemental appeals closer to the date [of their events] so student groups’ events will run smoothly and SU Treasury will not over-allocate.” Damjanovic hopes to find a solution to this problem for the student body and clubs affected by SU’s monetary issue. “There cannot be a vibrant campus community if SU is not allocating funds to student groups,” Damanjovic said. “We are going to take this slowly, we are to take it thoroughly, and next year, this should not be a problem.”
No. 1 women’s soccer undefeated
through 14 games
PHOTOS BY ANNA CALVO, DESIGN BY SYDNEY TRAN
RILEY HERRON LEWIS RAND MANAGING SPORTS EDITOR JUNIOR SPORTS EDITOR
After its first 10 games of the 2024 season, the No. 1 Washington University women’s soccer team was flying high. The Bears were 10-0-1, having outscored opponents 44-3. When the Bears lined up for their first University Athletic Association (UAA) game on Oct. 5, however, they entered with a blank slate: a 0-0 conference record. With two road wins — a 2-1 victory over then-No. 13 Emory University on Oct. 5 and a 1-0 win over No. 20 Brandeis University on Oct. 11 — the Bears passed their first two tests. The Bears are once again establishing themselves as the team to beat in a crowded UAA field, where six out of eight teams are ranked in the national top 25. According to head coach Jim Conlon, the team is approaching UAA play “one game at a time.”
“You know that every game is going to be very good in the UAA… [I’m] so excited to get today’s win and couple that with last week’s win [to] put us at 2-0,” he said after the win over Brandeis. Against Emory, the Bears were locked in a tight battle from the start. Thirty-six minutes into the game, however, first-year Olivia Clemons received the ball near the center circle, split two Emory defenders, and unleashed a shot from the edge of the box that nestled into the bottom left corner of the Emory goal to give WashU a first-half lead. In the 75th minute, after nearly 40 minutes of back-and-forth soccer, WashU finally got a much-needed insurance goal when sophomore Madison Foley tapped in a rebound to double WashU’s lead. I think the second goal is always big because you have a little bit of a buffer…Madi Foley [was] spot on there on a little bit of a bobble from their goalkeeper. While a lot of those turn in to be harmless, Madi made a great run and was able to capitalize
on an opportunity that presented itself,” Conlon said. Seven minutes later, however, an Emory strike from outside of the box beat WashU’s All-American goalkeeper, graduate student Sidney Conner, bringing the contest within one goal. Just two minutes later, the Eagles came inches away from leveling the score at two when a long-range shot ricocheted off the crossbar. From there, the Bears held firm for the last five minutes to clinch the win. “At the end of the day, we just need to be calm, take a deep breath, play what we needed to do to finish out that game,” Conlon said. “Ultimately, we did, but they came at as hard for sure…That four or fiveminute span was definitely Emory running downhill at us.” Less than 24 hours after WashU defeated Emory, they delivered a 9-0 victory over non-conference opponent Piedmont University in Atlanta, their largest win since 2016. A week later against Brandeis, the Bears logged their 13th win and
10th clean sheet of the season with a 1-0 victory. With Conner missing the game due to a WashU school program, the Bears backline was led by sophomore goalkeeper Charlotte Shapiro. Shapiro, who missed last season with an injury, made the most of her first start for WashU, holding Brandeis scoreless for all 90 minutes. “We know she’s a talented keeper, and so she has worked really hard in her rehab and has been working extremely diligently thus far this fall in getting her craft back. And so for her to get the nod, coupled in with her hard work, she’s ready to do a job,” Conlon said. The game’s sole goal came on a penalty kick from graduate student Ally Hackett 47 minutes into the game. After Clemons was fouled in the box, Hackett’s strike bounced off the hand of the Brandeis University goalkeeper and into the bottom left corner of the goal to give WashU a lead it would never lose. Hackett, who has been a stalwart of the Bears’ defense, is no stranger to penalty kicks. In the 2023 NCAA
CONTACT BY POST
CONTACT BY EMAIL
CONTACT BY PHONE
ONE BROOKINGS DRIVE #1039 #320 DANFORTH UNIVERSITY CENTER ST. LOUIS, MO 63130-4899
EDITOR@STUDLIFE.COM NEWS@STUDLIFE.COM CALENDAR@STUDLIFE.COM
NEWSROOM 314.935.5995 ADVERTISING 314.935.4240 FAX 314.935.5938
Tournament, Hackett took the penalty kicks that propelled the Bears to their dramatic quarter final and Final Four victories . Despite being a defender, Hackett is the team’s fifthleading scorer this season with four goals, most of which have come off of set-pieces or penalty kicks. The Bears dominated offensively, outshooting Brandeis 18 to seven and recording six corner kicks to the Judges’ two. Clemons, WashU’s leading scorer, had five shots, and junior Grace Ehlert, the team’s second-highest scorer, recorded three shots. With the wins, the Bears remain undefeated, improving their record on the season to 13-0-1, and keeping their national No. 1 ranking. The Bears will continue UAA play on Oct. 19 in St. Louis against No. 17 New York University. Over the next month, they will compete against four nationally ranked opponents including No. 4 Carnegie Mellon University, the only other undefeated team in conference play.