The Recognized Student Organization Funding Board of ASUW cut more than $4,000 from the Wyoming Equality Rocks event due to concerns over the educational value of a band.
S.P.E.A.K. Out, the campus group Students for Policy Equality Advancement and Knowledge, requested $5,021 for Wyoming Equality Day. The event is to celebrate women and minorities in the positions of leadership, such as noted UW alumna Harriet Elizabeth Byrd, who dubbed Jan. 21 a special day in Wyoming. Dr. Colleen Denney, a UW professor, will be a keynote speaker and will speak about the history of Wyoming suffrage.
The event also will host the Baltimore band “Wyoming Exploded,” which has a member from Rock Springs. The campus group planned to have the band play after a series of speakers on equality issues, which added approximately $3,895 to the event cost.
The RSO Funding Board disagreed with the educational value of the band. When the board asked group representative Elena Monteleone to justify the educational value, she said it would add to the “rocks” portion of the event and that the band adds as much value as other bands she has heard on campus.
“I’ve heard a band yell ‘douchebag’ during a concert in the Simpson Plaza,” Monteleone said.
The board members thought that the band’s cost was too much for the amount of educational value.
“I can get a top-dollar band from California for $4,000. And they’re not even hauling their own equipment,” committee chair Hunter Christensen said. “She was basically saying she does think there was an educational value.”
Committee members could not recall a time when they funded an event where the band did not involve some kind of social activism or similar message.
“It’s just a band with Wyoming in the name,” Sen. Justin Palms said. “I think their event is the same whether there is music in the background or not.”
The board moved to cut $3,895 from special service contracts, where the funding for band dollars was allocated. The board reasoned that the campus group had $2,800 in outside funding and might be able to make up the difference.
Additionally, the board cut $402 from the supplies budget for balloon decorations.
“I don’t really think that balloons will make an event,” Sen. Luis Garcia said.
After the cuts, the board awarded $723.75 for Wyoming Equality Day.
“I don’t think we did it arbitrarily. I think it fits,” Sen. Cati Calvetti said. “It’s just a lot of money that they aren’t getting.”
“They can always appeal,” Garcia said.
Additionally, the board recommended an award of $10,415 to the Wyoming African Students’ Association for several events during African Awareness Week in February 2013.
The events will include a drumming workshop, a dance competition on Valentine’s Day and a home-cooked meal featuring foods from many African countries. The dance will begin with a workshop teaching the “zoop” style of African dancing, followed by a recreational dance and a dance-off. The meal, which will take place in Washakie Hall, will serve cuisines from Kenya, Nigeria, Congo, Angola, Cameroon and Zimbabwe.
The board cut $400 from the amount awarded for the RSO’s printing and supply budgets, mostly because the board did not feel comfortable with funding the dance competition prizes.
The group plans to reach 1,200 students over the course of the week.
