2002 CCLA Budget Bursting at its Seams
By Conor O'Rourke
News Writer

With an annual budget of $65,000, the Committee for Campus Life and Activities (CCLA) holds the largest piece of the student-body budget pie, weighing in this year at a total over $200,000. The CCLA budget is somewhat down from the $71,000 it was last year but in comparison to the $20,000 it was during the 1998-1999 school year, it represents a significant increase in programming funding.

The budgets of the Student Activity Committees (SACs) on the other five colleges is representative of their size. Harvey Mudd generally has around $20,000 in their SAC fund; however, this year Mudd received a somewhat unexpected doubling to $40,000. CMC has about $50,000 while Pitzer has virtually no student activity funding. Scripps College's budgeting is segmented between dorm funding, College Council (similar to our ASPC) funding, and their own social organization, the Scripps College Student's Association (SCSA). Each of the other 5-C organizations sponsor social events, and they generally have enough money to sponsor two or three large parties per semester.

CCLA, on the other hand, sets its goal at sponsoring at least one social function each weekend. For the 2001-2002 school year, CCLA sponsored a total of 162 nights of programming. Typically, a standard party on weekends will cost between $500 and $800. The largest expense will usually go to a disc jockey. An off-campus DJ will charge around $400 to work a party while an on campus/student DJ such as Eric Nelson '03 or Phantom G (Frank Dining Hall Chef Greg) will only charge $100 to $150. A keg of beer may cost from less than $50 (Icehouse) to as much as $120 (Guiness). With decorations, food and security, the costs slowly mount up.

Of course the larger annual parties such as Harwood Halloween will be substantially more, as they require more decorations, food, better sound equipment (rented from off-campus businesses) and of course, the band. Ozomatli, to be featured at this year's Harwood Halloween will cost CCLA $14,000 in appearance and hospitality fees. The total spending is estimated to be $20,000 for the annual event. Ozomatli actually played at Harwood Halloween quite frequently in the past, but they have become more difficult to attract once their name became more commercial. In addition to a big name band, Harwood Halloween will also feature the In-N-Out truck parked outside the party serving up double doubles and soda pop during the party.

Many students have expressed concern over having access to some sort of calendar for social programming. While an official CCLA website is currently still being designed by senior class President Ji Chong, there does exist a 5-college events calendar which is available through a link on the Pomona College Web.

Coordinating with the other five colleges on dates and similarity of social events is something that people like Sara Sherrod are trying to focus more on this year. "Over the past few years, coordination between the different SACs has been fading; however, we are trying this year to at least not schedule our large parties up against each other. We are also working on planning a few huge events sponsored by all five of us. The problem is deciding on which campus the event will happen."

An anonymous member of a different 5-C SAC had differing feelings on 5-C coordination: "Pomona has such an elitist attitude. They feel like if they are throwing a party, whatever else is happening on the other colleges just doesn't matter." For example, conflict currently abounds regarding Scripps' Octoberfest this Saturday, conflicting with a similar event CCLA will throw later in the month, in addition to extensive social programming at Pomona this Saturday. This raises the question of priorities and 5-college cooperation. While Pomona and the rest of the five colleges pride themselves upon their consortium, it is clear that they are at this point only able to refer to it in the academic sense.