On Oct. 7, 2025, the Student Government Association’s budget and finance hearing proposed and finalized major cuts to several student activity organizations to balance the budget. The hearing required organization representatives to propose and vote on cuts to organizations’ budget items. The SGA Senate will vote on passing these budget changes in the upcoming weeks.
The hearing, which took place in the Melton Student Center 2222 at 5 p.m., was led by Director of Student Involvement Brad Smith and Colin Hale, SGA’s Budget and Finance Committee chair.
•The organizations represented included:
•The Black Student Union, which represents the voices of Black students at Auburn
•The International Student Organization, which works to improve international understanding, promote relationships between people of different cultures and help international students adjust to life at Auburn
•LEAD Auburn, which promotes student leadership
•The University Program Council, which hosts events for students; the Organizations Board, which represents the broader student organizations and handles student organization status and funding
•Student Media, which includes the Glomerata, The Circle, WEGL Radio and Eagle Eye TV
•Service Programs, which include Auburn University Dream Makers, IMPACT and Beat Bama Food Drive
•The SGA itself.
The hearing operated within three main sections. First, representatives gave short presentations on their organization’s operations and plans for year. Next, representatives proposed cuts to their own budgets until no organization was willing to offer cuts. Finally, the hearing continued with proposed cuts from any organization until the budget was balanced.
This year’s requested funds amounted to $2,349,201.99, while the available funds amounted to $2,107,118. Since requested funds came to $242,183.99 over the budget on top of a required $50-60,000 for reserve funds and program extension funding, SGA needed to cut around $300,000. This meant the organizations needed to cut roughly $200,000 for the fall and $100,000 for the spring and summer.
The hearing’s biggest cut came during the proposed cuts section when the UPC representative proposed and unanimously passed a complete cut to BSU’s Black History Month Concert, a new event planned for February that would have a hip-hop, R&B or soul artist perform for all students on campus. Prior to being cut, the event’s budget was $80,000.
The proposal was spurred by previous suggestions from other representatives for the BSU to partner with organizations like UPC to throw a larger concert. During the recess before the proposal, UPC and BSU representatives discussed the possibilities of a cut. After the recess, UPC stated its desire to “see maybe some collaboration with another organization” from BSU, stating that the event could be restructured to be “more beneficial in the long run for [BSU’s] organization overall.” Representatives from BSU expressed concerns about what future collaborations with other organizations would look like.
Colin Hale, chair of SGA’s Budget and Finance Committee, stated that the “big goals” for events such as the concert is for them to be open to all students.
Hale also spoke to the BSU’s earlier comments about the lowest price of an artist, which was $10,000 over their artist budget, saying that the concert “just doesn’t seem feasible in the short amount of time that we have to get this prepared.”
BSU’s president, Alianna Richardson, was present at the hearing but declined to make a comment about the cut to the concert.
UPC representatives also proposed a $5,000 cut to the $50,000 food and beverage budget for ISO’s Peace Dinner, which is open to all and had a turnout of over 1,000 people last year. These representatives proposed another cut of $2,000 to SGA’s $11,000 food budget for Better Relations Day, which expected a turnout of 120 people. Out of these UPC-proposed cuts, only the cut to ISO’s budget passed.
Another major cut came when the SGA proposed total cuts of $48,524 to its own graduate school funding allocation, causing the allocation to go from $145,354 to $96,830. This is a major change from last year, which marked SGA funding for graduate and professional schools at $131,550 according to an article from the Office of Career Discovery and Success.
Other major cuts include full cuts to entire event and materials budgets, which were proposed by the organizations themselves. These events included paint night, printed materials, country campfire and Thanksgiving-related holiday and tradition programs for UPC, Executive Cabinet portraits for SGA, experiential trip tickets for the LEAD and ISO's Registered Student Organization and Sponsored Student Organization partnership event. In addition to these program cuts, the budget for office supplies for ISO and BSU was also completely cut.
The O-Board was the only organization to not receive any cuts.
This year’s hearing marks a major departure from previous years due to its timing. Previously, budget and funding for student organizations operated under the university’s fiscal year, which runs from Oct. 1 to Sept. 30. This year, student organizations’ funding will be split into two separate budget allocation processes that correspond with the academic year, resulting in two separate hearings. The Oct. 7 hearing is the first of the two planned for this fiscal year.
Director of Student Involvement Brad Smith said that the change allows SGA to “look more intentionally, and in more detail, at the requests that organizations submit” and “ensure that they’re purposeful requests, they’re going to be for the entire student body.” According to Smith, the change also lets organizations plan according to the academic semester, which makes it easier for them to plan around than the university’s fiscal year.
At the end of the hearing, Hale announced that they successfully balanced the budget for fall 2025. According to Hale, the Budget and Finance Committee will begin writing legislation and pass it through SGA’s Senate within the next week or two to confirm the proposed budget. After giving reminders about funding specifics and expectations, Hale adjourned the meeting.
The spring and summer budget request hearing will take place Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2025 at 5 p.m. in Haley 3195.
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