The Student Government Association (SGA) held its final senate meeting of the semester on April 21.

This session mostly surrounded the 2026 Fiscal year budget, which was released earlier in the afternoon that day. The budget was approved after a vote and will go into effect on July 1, 2025. 

Chief Financial Officer Molly Fitzpatrick explained what goes into forming the budget for the year.

“There is a tier system that SGA has in place by the student financial control board guidelines…We put clubs in different tier placements, and based on those tiers, they were able to request a minimum budget and a maximum budget,” said Fitzpatrick. “If they were requesting above their tier placement maximum, they had to have credit appeals.”

Beauty In Distress (BID) saw a 240 percent increase in budget, going from $2,352 to $8,000. Followed by Colleges Against Cancer, which saw a 150 percent increase, going from $2,000 to $5,000. 

The Whit saw a 50.5 percent increase, following a 35 percent cut in the 2025 fiscal year, going from $20,000 to $30,100. 

Fitzpatrick explained this year that the circumstances for the club budget were different. 

“We felt as though the funding that they were given was being maximized, and we saw the potential with what they could be doing with how much more, and their presentation was very well put together,” said Fitzpatrick. 

A big decrease was made to Rowan Lab Theatre, with a 75 percent cut, bringing their budget down from $4,000 to just $1,000. 

Quinn Holloway, a senator for the club, expressed that with the budget they were allocated, they cannot put on the usual three productions they put on in a fiscal year. 

“Lab is also special to the department because it gives students a chance to learn what it takes to bring a full production from an idea to performance within the current budget,” said Holloway. “It reduces our show opportunities to one, compared to our normal three, but Lab is not unpopular. Every show this academic year was sold out, with not a single empty seat.”

Holloway also expressed issues with the tier placement they are in. 

“On top of our concern with the lack of budget, our E Board has concerns with how our club is categorized for tier. Our current treasurer reported that during our budget hearing, we would be classified as a tier two. The budget we were given corresponds to a tier one,” said Holloway. 

To which Fitzpatrick responded.

“I would like to confirm that the tier placement was correct. Just because there were credit appeals doesn’t mean that we accepted them. They do have to be valid,” said Fitzpatrick. 

Another club that saw a significant decrease was the Cinema Workshop. Seeing a 33 percent decrease going from $12,000 to $8,000. 

While their sister club Rowan Television Network saw another 28 percent increase, going from a $35,000 budget to $45,000. 

Kelsey Endicott, senator for Out in STEM (oSTEM), suggested that the current political climate could have warranted more flexibility and less harsh deadlines from SGA.

“I think you’re a little harsh on the deadlines considering the circumstances and all that is going on around campus,” said Endicott. “Like, I run a club that’s focused on LGBTQ diversity in STEM all of our lives are falling apart. SGA is not really my top priority, so I just feel like it’s something that can definitely be worked on.”

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