Responses to the College’s credit plan

On March 27, the first day of the strike, the Provost, Courtney Coile, informed students that they would receive 0.5 units for classes taught by NTT faculty. The day after the strike began, students received an email from the Registrar’s office providing them with details about how they could register for additional courses. 

On Saturday, March 29, students were offered the chance to register for additional classes taught by non-striking faculty, with priority given to seniors in their last semester, students who were at risk of falling below the minimum required 3.0 units, and students with ADR support for priority registration. 

According to an email sent out by Provost Coile, this was a necessary action on the part of the College because “the strike threatens students’ visa eligibility and financial aid eligibility, because if classes do not meet for the required number of contact hours, the College will be unable to award full credit, and some students may fall below the credit threshold.”     

Federal regulations require international students to be enrolled in a minimum of three academic units to maintain their legal status in America. 

In response, the Slater International Students’ Organization released a statement empathizing with international students’ anxieties and voicing their frustrations with the credit plan. 

The email statement wrote, “By implementing this sudden policy without proper consultation or consideration, the administration has recklessly put us at risk — especially those of us taking courses taught by NTT faculty members. This ‘solution’ provided by the administration blatantly disregards the challenges that international students have to face to stay legally in this country.” 

Domestic students also expressed concern and worry for international students affected by the changes to credit or involved in activism, especially given the sudden changes in immigration policy.

Sachiko Goto ’27, an international student who recently became a naturalized citizen, addressed the College’s credit decision, saying, “I don’t want to believe that they intend to actively harm so many students on visas and financial aid but they did not put in the bare minimum level of care required in sending out that email.”

Domestic students also weighed in about the College’s decision. 

Sahiti Garimella ’28, a domestic student, noted their shock that neither Slater nor the Financial Services Office heard about the credit situation beforehand.

“It wasn’t the right decision to change [the credits], but I thought they at least would have informed everybody about it beforehand, so that people would have contingency plans in place,” Garimella said. “The fact that they were randomly making these decisions at the last minute, that affected people in this major way, without giving us time to recover, or creating a safety net of sorts for students who are affected by it was definitely very difficult.”

On March 28, the Registrar’s Office sent out an email informing students that two Zoom informational sessions to answer questions regarding the credit change would be hosted by the Registrar’s Office, the Provost’s Office and Class Deans. 

Sidney Kronbach ’26, who attended both Senate meetings which addressed the credit change and the Zoom registration meeting, said, “Oftentimes questions were shut down, as opposed to answered.” 

Responses to the College’s handling of the strike and negotiations

Ava Daugherty ’28 expressed anger at the lack of information provided by the College regarding the ramifications of the strike on enrollment status, immigration status, and course loads. Daugherty feels that the College “is keeping a lot of people misinformed and under informed.”

She continues that the College’s reaction and response to the strike was disappointing and unexpected for her, stating that she “thought it would be a pretty progressive place, even within the administration.”

Goto also addressed that while many international students want to support the union more vocally, they also do not want to risk their safety and legal status. 

“They [international students] have no clue what the boundaries for their support are because when you’re getting emails from the administration that say just as a reminder, this can affect your visa or financial aid status, that’s scary. And then you look at the news and you see that somebody was taken right off the streets in Boston, and that ICE is right there, right down the street,” Goto said.

Students are expressing their support for the Union by showing up at the picket lines. WOAW members are picketing at Central Street and College Road by the entrance of the College everyday from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Daugherty said, “There’s an air of excitement on the picket line. Students don’t get the chance to be as politically active as other campuses, because a lot of times they’re very swamped with work. A lot of people are really excited to finally put action to their words, in regards to what they have said that they stand for and what they believe in.” 

Contact the editors responsible for this story: Sazma Sarwar and Valida Pau.

In an email sent on Jan. 15 to students with accommodations, Courtney Mulligan, Director of Accessibility and Disability Resources, wrote “This [GLEAN] is an AI note-taking software that we’re hoping will allow some independence and control for folks who have traditionally relied on peer notetakers.”

GLEAN is an AI note-taking app that “records lectures in full, flags key moments in one click and allows students to add rich content” to their notes. 

Students voiced concerns and difficulties regarding the use of GLEAN at a Senate meeting. 

Destiny Eversole ’27, one of the students who spoke out at Senate, is concerned about the “massive breach of privacy” for students recorded while speaking in class. She also pointed out the conflict between revealing that a student requires accommodations and providing a disclaimer when recording the class. 

“Because of the nature of this being an accommodation, it can’t be revealed, as per privacy laws … as new faculty were never informed about this fact, that means they end up in a space where the app is being used … and thus can be recorded at any time during class without their knowledge,” said Eversole.

 In response to these concerns, ADR has begun to hold meetings with Students for an Accessible Wellesley (SAW), a student organization which connects students with disabilities and helps students get necessary accommodations. Professors have also expressed discomfort with being recorded during classes.  

“We’ve had faculty say, ‘I don’t know what I can allow or not.’ If you’re being asked to record your lecture, your intellectual property or even a class where people are sharing personal anecdotes and stories, that can be very challenging to navigate,” said Natalia Quintana ’25, president of SAW.

Students and faculty are also wary of how introducing AI in notetaking could impact academic integrity. 

“There’s probably a generative aspect to the AI that makes those notes no longer a product of what the professor was saying solely, but a product of what the professor was saying, plus the AI’s interpretation of it,” Quintana said. 

According to Quintana, prior to the switch, ADR’s AI system detected that students who asked for notetaker accommodations did not open notes that the notetaker provided. 

Mulligan said, “In Fall 2024, there were 168 classes being supported by notetakers; of those, 54 of the classes never opened a single note. This is an indication that the system is not meeting its intended goal.”

Given the office’s tight budget, this trend prompted ADR to recommend using GLEAN for in-class note taking before requesting a student notetaker.  

Students are taking issue with ADR’s rationale for shifting away from a student notetaker in their accommodations.  

“That’s not really how I’ve ever understood accommodations from a legal perspective,” said Alex Teasley ’27, an Academic Council representative. “It’s not that you should be required to use the resource, or that your access to the resource should be dependent on whether you need it.”

At the beginning of this semester, ADR was tracking how many people were using the new AI notes. To Quintana, the tracking felt like “surveillance.”

Such feelings of surveillance may discourage students from asking for future accommodations, according to Quintana.  

Students are speculating that ADR’s push for AI is motivated by cost reductions at the expense of on-campus student employment opportunities.

“It seems to me that that’s a very cost-cutting argument, as opposed to an argument actually grounded and making experiences better for disabled students on campus. It seems like they just don’t want to pay the student notetakers,” Teasley said. 

Even if ADR was not intentionally taking away student jobs, because there was no student input regarding the switch, the loss of on-campus jobs was not considered, according to Eversole. 

While the switch from student note-takers to GLEAN has been tumultuous, Quintana remains hopeful about future interactions between the student body and ADR.  

In an email to the Wellesley News, Mulligan also mentioned further engagement with the student body, as she said ADR would be attending a College Government meeting in early March to speak more about the switch to GLEAN. 

“We want to ensure students have an opportunity to engage around these issues,” said Mulligan.

Contact the editors responsible for this story: Sazma Sarwar, Jessica Chen, and Valida Pau

President Trump has signed more than 45 executive orders since his inauguration on Jan. 20, moving quickly to fulfill his campaign promise to roll back protections for trangender and binary people. 

The White House issued orders that included restricting federal support for gender transition care for people under 19, barring trans people from serving in the military, and mandating the recognition of two biological sexes instead of gender identity. Trump is also expected to sign an executive order on Wednesday, Feb. 5, to ban transgender women and girls from participating in female sports events. 

Executive orders are not final, as federal judges can temporarily block orders, pending further review.  

Many gender-fluid and trans students at Wellesley are concerned over these executive orders. 

“It is completely not based in any sort of real science because we understand even sex to be on a continuum because of the existence of intersex people,” said Lucia Urreta ’26, president of Siblings, a club designed to provide a safe space for trans and non-binary members of the Wellesley community.

While the situation may seem dire and “emotionally draining,” Urreta emphasizes how the simple act of existing can serve as an act of resistance. 

“The continued existence of Siblings is our way to fight back against that erasure. Even on our campus, acknowledging that this isn’t just a women’s campus — it’s a way to fight back,” Urreta said. 

Urreta is referencing the administration’s trans-exclusionary language in its gender policy.

Wellesley states that the College “will use language reflective of its identity as a women’s college, i.e., female pronouns and other gendered language, in all institutional communications.”  

The mental toll that LGBTQIA+ individuals may be feeling during these trying times has not gone unnoticed by Dr. Todd Nordgren, the Director of LGBTQ+ programs and services at Wellesley. 

“One of the difficulties with the executive order is that it doesn’t give a lot of clear guidance around policy, and so the effects are a little uncertain right now,” Nordgren said. 

The LGBTQ+ office provides programs and events to foster queer community, which includes providing support and resources directly for students, as well as advocacy on behalf of queer and trans students on campus. 

However, for non-binary and trans students, accessing government buildings and renewing passports are an immediate concern that the ban could affect. Nordgren stated that the LGBTQ+ office is focused on navigating these “somewhat more clear” issues related to federal identification.  

“[Students’ mental health], is where I’m spending my time and energy immediately. We know here in our community, that’s not how we think about people,” said Nordgren.

Students can find resources through the resource guide on Wellesley’s LGBTQ+ website. The guide includes resources with other ways to get support for documentation, healthcare and other types of care students might need. The resource guide also includes information for a range of intersecting identities, with regional organizations that are focused on specific racial or ethnic groups. Additionally, LGBTQ+ services will be hosting its annual Trans Week of Visibility at the end of March. Although LGBTQ+ services have hosted this event in the past, Nordgren noted that it feels more important now than ever. Nordgren emphasized that they want students to know that they can always make an appointment with them to have conversations or to be connected to important resources. 

Urreta ‘26 believes that Trump’s executive orders are “all about making sure that we [the LGBTQIA+ community] lose connection with each other.” 

Other student organizations, such as Order of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) (for all students who are out in STEM), BlackOut (for Black LGBTQIA+ students, or students in the African diaspora), Familia (for Latinx, queer trans students, TeaTalks (for any Asian student who’s queer or trans) and QTSAC (for trans South Asian students), are additional spaces where queer students can find solidarity amidst Trump’s executive order.

Contact the editors responsible for this story: Jessica Chen, Ruby Barenberg, Galeta Sandercock, Sazma Sarwar, and Valida Pau

Celebrated annually, Wellesley Giving Day is a day dedicated to raising money for The Wellesley Fund, a fund used for all aspects of campus life. According to The Wellesley Fund’s website, the funds go towards students’ financial aid, residential life curriculum, teaching and research opportunities, and physical and mental health services. 

The Wellesley Fund is “a 25.1 million dollar goal that is unrestricted money used for what we call immediate impact,” said Amy Burke, Senior Director of Annual Giving Programs. 

Alumni who have a particular affinity for a specific cause, such as sports teams or certain academic departments, can specify that when they make their donation.

Burke explained that the fund is not a “slush fund,” rather it accounts for 5% of the college’s operating revenue. 

“[The Wellesley Fund] doesn’t seem glamorous, but the operating money empowers the mission [of the college],” said Burke.

Because The Wellesley Fund acts as immediate impact money for the college, it can be used to address unprecedented financial needs. For example, the pandemic could not have been anticipated and was not budgeted for, but according to Burke, millions of dollars were available to address the unique needs of the student body during that tumultuous time because of The Wellesley Fund. 

According to the Wellesley College Annual Report 2020-2021, there was a 21.1% increase in the Fund’s contribution to operating revenue, from $14,165 in 2020 to $17,154 in 2021. These changes in expenses included health and safety measures to increase ventilation and keep students socially distanced, as well as technology to support at-home learning. 

In tandem with the federal Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF), The Wellesley Fund supplemented financial aid grants for students whose financial circumstances differed due to the pandemic. According to Burke, The Wellesley Fund provided a necessary safety net for unexpected costs associated with the pandemic, highlighting the funds’ importance in times of unexpected need. 

This year, there was an effort to appeal to millennial donors by showing how the causes that they’re passionate about are being put into action at Wellesley. However, older generations remained the most likely to give: the classes with the most donors were 1977, 1983 and 1994. The classes with the most dollars raised were 1977, 1981 and 1994.

“Some of the top causes– environment, library research, equity and inclusion– things our alums are supporting, we have at Wellesley,” said Burke.

Burke expressed her gratitude for the generosity of donors.

 “I have not found a more empowering community than Wellesley… Our alumni show that it’s okay for us as a community to support things we care about,” said Burke.

The success of Giving Day means that Wellesley will have the funds to continue to provide financial aid, as well as supporting academic programs and other resources to help Wellesley students achieve their goals. 

Burke said that students should remember the support they have from alumni: “[There are] 30,000 alums behind you, watching it from afar … You may never meet, but the bond current students and alumni share is so valuable.”

Contact the editors responsible for this story: Ruby Barenberg, Lyanne Wang, Sazma Sarwar, and Valida Pau.

Correction: Amy Burke’s quote “Even with our graduates making 85 cents on the dollar compared to Harvard alumni” was removed from the article as Burke was speaking about women’s salary compared to men, not specifically Wellesley graduates compared to Havard graduates.

Cafe Hoop’s opening was greeted by a line of more than 30 students formed within 15 minutes of the opening. Cafe Hoop is located on the ground floor of the Lulu Chow Wang Center, next to Punch’s Alley. Hoop is a late-night student-run cafe and co-op that serves creative takes on nachos, quesadillas and cookie butter desserts, as well as traditional drinks and snacks. The co-op also has a secret menu featuring items like Denisse’s Chocolate Pie, a decadent mix of hazelnut and cookie butter toasted on a tortilla with apples, and their King Midas special, a croissant with raspberry preserves and cookie butter. 

Cafe Hoop, which typically opens sometime around the week of Halloween and the first week of November, opened later than usual this year. 

Denise Sarmiento ’25, General Manager of Cafe Hoop explains that the delay was due to numerous mandatory trainings, including discrimination training, food and safety training, and fire safety training, as well as challenges regarding funding. 

“We had a little bit of trouble opening with administration … but we’ve been getting quite a bit of support. It’s nice to feel that support from the student body and to know that we were missed is very special,” said Courtney Robinson ’26, a noopie, or new Cafe Hoop worker.

Sarmiento said that the College told Cafe Hoop that they couldn’t fundraise because the college is government-funded. This prevented Cafe Hoop from accepting donations from students. 

She further explained the difficulties with repaying the loan that Cafe Hoop uses to purchase food and supplies, especially with the policy change.

“Before, we paid back [the loan] as much as we could, and whatever we couldn’t, the college government would forgive. That’s not happening anymore. We are now getting this loan directly from the college, and if we do not pay this back, the co-ops do not exist,” Sarmiento said. The News has reached out to the College Government and College officials for more information on the loan, but they did not immediately respond to The News’ request for

At the opening, many students commented on the ambiance that the cafe brought as a study and hangout space on campus. Cafe Hoop prides itself as a safe place on campus, most recently stating in its opening announcement email on Tuesday Nov. 19 that it “has historically been, and continues to be, a community on campus for students of marginalized backgrounds.”

Robinson said that she was first drawn to Cafe Hoop because of their pizza bagels, but then noticed that the place was “a living history” because of the unique decor style, which includes quotes on the walls from people in the 1990s and posters from each class year, which show the evolution of Wellesley students’ thoughts and sources of joy. 

El Table, facing similar issues to Cafe Hoop, also had to delay their opening. 

Amanda Kauffman, Associate Director of Student Involvement & Leadership, announced in a school-wide email on Nov. 19 that El Table would resume its normal operating times on weekdays from 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. 

El Table is located in Founders Basement, where it sells a variety of sandwiches and drinks, including coffee, chai lattes, and the popular El Table club sandwich. 

On the day of the El Table opening, many students voiced their excitement for the co-op’s re-opening. El Table’s mission statement emphasizes their dedication to the QTBIPOC community, existing as “a welcoming space for sibs and the Wellesley community to enjoy.” 

“I think it’s just like such a great community here, it’s like everyone is so vibrant here. The vibes without El Table and Hoop have been a little sad around campus, so to see them open again is really happy,” Alexis Jiang ’25 said.

While enjoying a Rosy Toasty sandwich, a popular secret menu item, and The Chloe, one of El Table’s vegan sandwich options, Gracy Aristil ’25 shared their thoughts on El Table’s atmosphere. 

“I needed this. I feel like this space just feels very … cultural? It doesn’t feel like Wellesley … especially like the workers and the music … It feels different,” Aristil said.

Caroline Goodwin ’26 also said that they were happy to have a “third space open on campus” and looked forward to grabbing a chai on their way to classes. 

“I feel like the value that the co-ops bring to this campus cannot be quantified by how much profit we make. Just existing is resistance against all of these structures of hierarchy that exist, not just at Wellesley, but out in the world,” Sarmiento said.

Christina Ding, Jenna Stephenson, Caroline Tharakan and Samantha Manoloff contributed to reporting. 

Contact the editors responsible for this story: Lyanne Wang, Jessica Chen, and Valida Pau

As the name suggests, the student organization defines itself as a dance organization that “strives to spread traditional and modern Asian culture and dance to the Wellesley community and surrounding areas.” WADO is the only dance organization on campus that seeks to highlight Asian culture through its dance routines. In the past five years, WADO has showcased a variety of types of Asian dance, including performances in the Chinese classical style, Bollywood style, Vietnamese lotus style, and Japanese folk style, alongside its many K-pop dances. 

At WADO’s Spring Showcase, the biggest event of the year where it showcases selected Fall dances, Spring dances, Big-Little dances, E-board dances, and guest performances, there are usually two traditional dances for every ten K-pop dances. However, this fall semester, the dance line-up includes “The Real” by ATEEZ, “Light a Flame” by SEVENTEEN, “Candy” by NCT DREAM, and “Pose!” by Lightsum, all K-pop dances.

Many WADO members have expressed concern with the dances provided, as they feel that the routines are mainly from South Korea, not other Asian cultures. 

According to Destiny Villarreal ’25, an active member of WADO for three years, “I think that they [WADO] miss out on making an inclusive environment for people who do have interest in other dances, especially if it’s people who identify with that culture.”

Villarreal explains that this has been a constant issue because WADO is only able to do four dances each semester. Due to rehearsal time constraints, non-K-pop dances are often cut.

Genesis Hang ’25, WADO Social Co-Chair and act leader for “POSE!”, explains that WADO does not intend to become a K-pop dance group, but last year’s interest form showed that general members indicated a preference for K-pop performances. 

“We [WADO E-board] try really hard to emphasize that we’re not just a K-pop, club or group…But I think the most appealing thing about WADO to people, is the fact that we do offer K-Pop dances and activities related to K-pop, such as Random Play, dance, etc.,” said Hang. 

Students like Sophia Clarkson ’27, a general member, emphasized that WADO provides a space for K-pop dance enthusiasts at Wellesley. 

“I joined WADO because they offer K-pop dances, and Wellesley doesn’t really have anything like that. If WADO doesn’t do K-Pop dances, then all the people interested in that won’t really have anywhere else to go,” said Clarkson.   

WADO members reiterate that while the organization welcomes diversity, the lack of other cultural dances happened unintentionally as a result of few members signing up to be act leaders teaching those dances. 

“People sign up to be act leaders, and we usually choose from that, and we like to have variety. So we’ll typically have, as you’ve seen in the past, like Chinese, traditional dance, all of that, but no one really signed up this year,” Hang said. 

Hang speculates that the lack of people signing up to be act leaders could be because of the many act leaders who graduated last year, taking with them their knowledge of Chinese dances and other non-K-pop dances. 

To bring back more Asian cultural dances in the future, Villarreal suggests that WADO could host different dance workshops to move beyond being K-pop-centric.  

WADO is also looking into organizing a social mixer with Northeastern’s Indian dance club, hoping for a joint workshop in the future, in an effort to increase diversity and representation going forward.

Hang emphasizes that WADO hopes to be more inclusive in the future. 

“The way we picked dances earlier is obviously because we have personal biases, biases going into our choices here … obviously, we didn’t have that many [non K-pop dances] this semester. But if E-board members keep in mind that we are trying to include different interests for different people, then I think we’d be able to do that,” Hang said.

Contact the editors responsible for this story: Valida Pau, Sazma Sarwar and Lyanne Wang

The Student Bursar’s Office allocated a total of $674,877.38 amongst fully-funded organizations, Grant Clubs, Club Sports, Guaranteed Percentage Events, Class Councils, and House Councils for the 2024-25 school year. This is compared to a total of $932,812.49 for the 2023-24 school year, with both sums excluding the amount pulled for the Emergency Funding Pool, Recreation Grant, Conference Award Fund, and stipends for the College Government and Bursar’s Office.

The Wellesley Review is one of the many clubs who received a big drop in funding, with only $648.81 this year compared to last year’s $1,743.48.  

“It’s so difficult to decide what's worth spending money on, and I feel like everyone fights about money … I feel like it is something that's going to cause strife between management and/or it has the potential to cause strife between management and the club,” ​​Co-President of The Wellesley Review Emma McNulty ’26 said.

The Wellesley Review is not alone in this. Several clubs and organization leaders were left frustrated when their final approved funding for the 2024-25 school year was much less than anticipated. 

Members of the Bursar’s Office understand such sentiments, but they explain that the stark decrease occurred not because of an intentional funding cut but because the Bursar’s Office gave student organizations an unusually large amount of funding last year.

Consequence of no Bursar last year

The Bursar heads the Bursar’s Office and acts as a liaison between Student Organization Funding Committee (SOFC), College Government (CG) Cabinet, and the administration’s Budgetary Advisory committee. The role and the Bursar's Office is to inform each group on college-wide financial issues, the lack of a Bursar last year caused a deficit in funding expertise.

“Last year, the [Bursar’s] Office did not know how to properly distribute the funds because there was no Student Bursar, no memory of funding distribution, and because we lost the Bursar so quickly ... Orgs were asking ‘what's our budgets’ [so] members of the Office — Penelope and I were not involved in that decision I should clarify — made the decision to take out of Contingency and just give everyone what they asked,” Deane said. 

Contingency is the pool of leftover money at the end of a year. Members of the Office refer to Contingency as a sort of bank to pull money from in emergency situations. Last year, the Office acted out of the ordinary, pulling about $300,000 out of Contingency to grant organizations the amount of funding they requested. 

Excluding the 2023-24 school year, the average Student Activity Fund from 2017-18 to 2024-25 is $730,468.85. Last year’s Student Activity Fund was $999,312.49.

Notably, SOFC decides on which organizations receive how much money, and the Bursar’s Office only allocates the money.

“None of the normal formulas or distribution policies that we have in order to distribute the funds fairly and appropriately were able to be executed last year, so the budgets that people got last year were very, very abnormal,” Deane said.

Office pulls from Contingency again for 2024-25 school year

This year, the administration lowered the student activity fee, which each student pays in their tuition, from $320 to $296. The Board of Trustees approved this decision as part of the College’s annual budget process.

“The Student Activity Fee was reduced because of significant carryover in that budget line. At the end of last year, SOFC had approximately $530,000 in unspent funds. When a department has unspent funds, the College’s standard practice is to moderate further budget increases,” said Director of Media Relations Stacey Schmeidel. 

Since there was no Bursar serving as immediate contact last year, the Office was unable to explain to the administration the circumstances — mainly residual impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic where no physical events took space, such as a fewer number of clubs and events — that led to unspent funds last year.

“In a normal year, [the Office] gets to at least be a part of those conversations or influence them a little bit, and we did not have that specific voice last year,” Head Bookkeeper Penelope Gordon ’25 said.

Members of the Office expressed their sympathy in how organizations expected to receive more funding than they did.

“I really feel sad for the orgs because it’s not any student’s fault [that orgs received less funding this year]. It’s an administrative level thing that students do not have control over,” said Bookkeeper Ruth Jaiyeola ’27.

Together with the drop of enrolled students, it appeared that the Student Activity Fund would be significantly lower. However, the Office chose to once again pull money from contingency to return the Fund to a standard amount.

“They did decrease the Student Activity Fee, yes, however that has not affected the overall organization budgets, at least for this year, because we’ve artificially inflated it with Contingency money to get it up to that $800,000,” Deane said.

The Bursar’s Office was able to do so due to a large amount of money being reverted into Contingency due to COVID-19. Between last year and this year, however, the Office has distributed this surplus sum, leaving there “less wiggle room to borrow” for future years.

As such, the Bursar’s Office is working with the administration to “sustain a healthy amount of Student Activity Funding” for future years.

“I don't want to promise something, but we definitely, on our end, are looking to increase the Student Activity Fee. We're doing all this data to see what a healthy amount [is],” Deane said.

Nonetheless, the Bursar’s Office stresses that organizations should not apply for more than needed to prevent unspent money.

“When orgs apply for a lot of money and then don't use all that, that negatively impacts the student activity fee because admin sees how much money is reverted, and they're like, ‘oh, so we don't need this amount of money,’ which might not be true. Other orgs could use that money,” Deane said.

What impacts funding distribution?

The Office follows a dollar-per-student model, where it considers how many people will attend each event and how much money per student the event will cost. 

“We prioritize those events that are cheaper per student, for example, huge events that benefit a lot of students. [This is] because that means the Student Activity Fee that they’re paying, they’re benefiting from. Those events get funded before more expensive events,” Deane said.

This year, the Office is strict in prioritizing event money and funding that is necessary for an organization to run (coaches, sports equipment, etc.) over food money. 

“A lot of the cuts that were made if organizations got their approved budgets cut was in food … we have in our Constitution that we can only fund 35% of the total budget toward food,” Deane said.

However, many organizations, particularly cultural organizations, are heavily impacted by funding cuts for food. Co-President of the Wellesley Taiwanese Cultural Organization (TCO) Michelle Lee ’25 expressed that funding is tight between event and food money. 

“It’s really difficult, almost impossible, to use event money for food money … As a cultural org, food is really important to us,” Lee said.

Despite its consequences, the funding hierarchy answers a circulating question of why some organizations receive more funding than others. When asked why the Nordic Ski Team, for example, received a large sum of money in the past few years, Deane explained that Club sports must require more funding to legally exist: these teams must attend a certain number of races or tournaments in order to be recognized by their National Governing Body, i.e. USA Nordic. 

“It’s a lot [of money], but …we actively worked with Physical Education, Recreation, & Athletics (PERA) last year to cut Club Sports to the bare minimum that they can in order to function … Club sports collectively cannot take more than 17% of the Student Activity Fund,” Deane said.

SOFC procedures likely to change in forthcoming years

The Wellesley News obtained data from the Bursar’s Office that for the 2024-25 school year, organizations applied for a total of 116 more events than they did last year. Organizations are also more active, hosting more events, as the College bounces back from the pandemic. 

“Even taking inflation into account, there's still an increase in how much orgs want to do. There have also been significant changes within the past year … people are hiring different workers … before the pandemic [CG Cabinet] did not have stipends. The stipends that come out of the student activity,” she said.

While numbers continue to fluctuate, members of the Office remind the student body that their current process for fund distribution has only been in place since the 2019-20 year. As such, SOFC, the Bursar’s Office, and CG Cabinet is looking to see how they can change the policy process to “fairly and appropriately” distribute funds.

Ultimately, Deane sees the Bursar’s Office as an underutilized resource and encourages students who have questions about the funding distribution process to visit the Bursar’s Office when she or Penelope hold Office Hours. 

“Our entire job is to help student organizations get as much money as they need, and to help them to spend that money in the correct way … There have been times where people have negative ideas of the Bursar’s Office because of decisions we don’t make, and that is something we have been working on: to rebuild community ties,” Gordon said.

**Correction: An earlier version of this story indicated that the total allocated by SOFC for the 2024-25 school year was $681,902.70, this number represents the amount allocated only for organizations in the 2024-25 school year, the total allocation was $790,000.00.

Christina Ding contributed to reporting.

Contact the editors responsible for this story: Valida Pau, Sazma Sarwar, Galeta Sandercock