The Student Activities Board has been planning events amidst lower enrollment and a lower activities fee.
Because of lower enrollment, the student activities fee that each student pays as a part of their tuition has gone down, so SAB has a lower budget. However, SAB Vice President Lily Brink said that they work hard to plan quality events on a budget that is decreasing each year, but they are still able to pull off quality events that they are proud of. The organization tries to continue to keep the structure of events despite the decreasing budget by being smart with the money they are given to work with through the student activities fee.
SAB is planning multiple events for the fall semester, including Oktoberfest, which will be hosted Friday, Oct. 4 on The Quad. There will be live musical performances, lawn games, free root beer and food. Those who arrive early enough will get a free mug to take home as well, while supplies last. Brink said that at the end of October there will be an interactive “Rocky Horror Picture Show” showing. There will also be more traditional events such as Harvestfest coming up later in October.
In addition to those events there will be a few more movies and interactive events presented by SAB as well. These smaller events will be scattered throughout the fall semester in addition to maintaining the larger events. So far in the semester, many students have shown up to SAB events, which hints at the quality of those activities, Brink said. Brink specified freshmen week as a specific event that had a good turn out of attendees.
Brink also explained that the organization brainstorms together to think of something interesting that students might want to be a part of, but the best way to come up with new events is by hearing from the student population themselves. There is also an anonymous submission box on their website where students can submit ideas, compliments or criticisms about events.
“This is something we are trying to keep in mind as we plan our events,” Brink said. “This changes year-by-year as attendance changes, but it is not something that we view as insurmountable.”