Simpson College’s Campus Activities Board recently received moremoney from the Student Government Association and the college toextend Story Nights into Saturday evenings.

The $5,000 dollars CAB requested from the SGA was approved atthe meeting Nov. 5.

According to junior Michael Schrodt, SGA treasurer, receivingmoney from the SGA is a lengthy process. A group must first requestthe money. After this, the SGA Budget Committee, made up of foursenators and one treasurer, then meet with the group to discuss theproposal. The committee finds out how the money will be used, whyit is needed, if the group requesting has looked anywhere else formoney, what the benefit of the activities will be and if they willaffect the student body campus-wide.

The committee then looks at the amount of money SGA has andmakes a suggestion to the Senate regarding how much money theybelieve the group should receive. The members of SGA can choose toignore the suggestion of the budget committee or they can decide tovote on the amount recommended by the committee.

It usually takes one to two weeks to approve the group’sproposal.

“If a group gets the proposal in by Friday, it meets with thebudget committee on Monday, and it can be approved on Wednesday. Ifthey don’t get the proposal in until closer to or after the SGAweekly meeting, it can take longer,” said Schrodt.

Students may be wondering why CAB received more money.

“Stormy Nights is getting more money, opposed to just CAB,” saidRich Ramos, CAB advisor and assistant dean of students. “The moneyis to enhance and add more programs to the weekend schedule.”

CAB has plans to allow other organizations on campus to helpwith Stormy Nights if they have a proposed activity. For example,junior Nicole Molt, CAB president, said, if CASA, the Spanish clubon campus, wanted to have a Latino singer followed by a night ofsalsa dancing on Saturday, CAB would fund the event. Members ofCASA would have to help organize and host the event.

“The administration had asked for CAB to get money [from SGA] toshow support to the students for Saturday Stormy Nights,” saidSchrodt.

SGA receives its money from the student government fees allstudents attending Simpson must pay, so giving money to anorganization from SGA is the same as giving money from the studentsto that organization. According to Schrodt, CAB received $82,350from the SGA budget last year and $65,500 two years ago.

Senior Cory George, student body president, said at the SGAmeeting on Nov. 3 that CAB went $11,000 over their budget last yearand ended up receiving about $92,000 from SGA. That extra money wasgiven to CAB without an SGA vote. The extra money granted this yearwas voted on by a large majority of the SGA. Last year StormyNights was introduced to Simpson.

“[Stormy Nights] developed out of a need to provide moreactivities during late night hours on weekends,” said Molt.

Stormy Nights never starts before 9 p.m. or lasts past 2 a.m.Although these activities may be cheap or even free for Simpsonstudents, CAB has to pay for students to enjoy these benefits.

According to a CAB report presented by Molt at the SGA meetingon Nov. 5, $43,028 was spent on Stormy Nights last year. Theaverage cost per weekend was approximately $2,264. The cost forStormy Nights this year is projected at approximately $66,313. Thisnumber is simply an estimate.

Paramount Theater keeps a tally of the number of Simpsonstudents who attend the movies. The students pay $2 upfront, butCAB then pays the theater $2.50 per person that attended.

Bowling at Indian Hills Lanes costs CAB $450 per week, andbreakfast at Pfeiffer totals $4.50 per person.

“The averages for performers depends,” said Ramos. “We havespent as little as $200 to $300 and as much as $2,000 to $3,000 onperformers.”

The number of participants at all of the Stormy Nightsactivities totaled 9,501 for the 2002-03 school year.

“The number of participants really varies from weekend toweekend,” said Ramos. “Some performances bring in a lot morestudents. There were 300 students at the hypnotist and about 150 atthe Matt Nathanson concert.”

According to Ramos, an average of 110 students go to movies eachweek, and 80 eat the meal at Pfeiffer. CAB initially asked SGA for$10,000 to fund the Saturday portion of Stormy Nights. CAB laterreduced the amount requested to $5,000. According to Ramos andMolt, the administration has promised to fund $40,000 towards theStormy Nights on Saturdays. CAB has never received money from thecollege itself before, so this is a large step in support of theexpansion of weekend activities. Before the additional $5,000 wasgiven to CAB, the organization was already receiving $97,853 fromSGA.

Some students are in favor of Saturday Stormy Nights, whileothers don’t like attending the events.

“Stormy Nights is nice for other people, but I usually prefer tobe quiet on my own. Some people have different views of studentlife,” said junior Shristi Upreti.

According to Ramos and Molt, many students have asked for anadditional night of activities. Many things are offered on Fridaysat the same time, so students who wish to attend a performance andcheap movie are unable to do so because they occur at the sametime.

“It’s a good idea to have Stormy Nights on Saturday. There is somuch to do on Friday and nothing to do on Saturday. I end up justsitting around,” said freshman Lauren Back.

Molt and Ramos also said the number of security problems orincidents are lower on the nights that activities are available oncampus. Vandalism and the number of write-ups are also less duringStormy Nights.

Stormy Nights is also a way to keep students on campus duringthe weekend. Plans for Saturday Stormy Nights activities arestarting to evolve.

“We have considered having something like ‘The Wade RobsonProject,'” said Molt. “We would hire someone to teach dances onFriday then hold a competition on Saturday.”

Saturday Stormy Nights will begin this spring.

How much money does SGA give to organizations? The numberscampus organizations received from the SGA this year are asfollows:

Barker Hall – $200

Health Services – $200

RHA – $344

CASA – $600

PRSSA – $645

LGBTQA – $1,800

Sequel – $2,209

First Year Council – $3,900

Senate Office – $4,000

Simpsonian – $5,260

Salaries – $6,013.75

Intramurals – $9,469

KSTM – $10,521

Zenith – $25,252

RLC – $25,252

CAB – $102,853