UNC Wilmington’s sports clubs will notice an influx of resources next year that will provide students with more opportunities to represent the university at a competitive level. 

In a jam-packed meeting that lasted two and a half hours Tuesday, March 12, SGA approved a $1 FTE increase for UNCW’s Sports Club Council, providing the council with 16 percent more money for 2013-2014.

UNCW’s SCC has not seen an FTE increase since 2007, and since that time the council has added six clubs and increased participation on existing teams.  Currently, there are 31 clubs that SCC oversees, making up 12 percent of the student population. 

The majority of the increase will aid the council’s operations, and in turn will benefit the portion of the student body that participates in sports clubs, said SCC President, Salvator Serpe.

“With a greater ability to fund our terrific professional staff, reimburse students for their positive representation of this university across the state and nation in competitions, and continued empowerment of student club leaders across campus,” Serpe said, “I’m certain that the trend of vast improvement for the SCC will be continued.”

SCC initially brought a $1.50 FTE increase request to SGA’s appropriations committee. The committee requested a $1 increase at the SGA meeting.  The appropriations committee oversees student organization budget requests, among other things.

The senate debated the request before voting to approve the budget increase.  There were some in the senate concerned with the depletion of Special Activities Funding as a result of an SCC budget increase.   Special Activities Funding is a portion of the SGA budget that is allocated to student organizations throughout the year.

Others argued the sports clubs go to events and present a tremendous opportunity to represent UNCW in a positive way.

The surf club is one of the most successful clubs at the university and continually represents UNCW at a national level.

Serpe, who is also a member of the triathlon team, mentioned his team as another example of recent success. Some sports clubs, such as surfing or triathlon, represent the highest level of competition at UNCW, and deserve a level of funding that reflects that, according to Serpe.

Ultimately, the portion of students that will benefit from the budget increase convinced the majority of the senate to vote in favor of the increase.   

Patrick Lecompte, SGA treasurer, and other members of the senate and university, have been working closely with SCC since the beginning of Lecompte’s term.  The research that went into the FTE increase request included comparisons of other university sports club budgets.

UNCW’s ACE also requested a $1 increase, but the appropriations committee requested to deny ACE’s budget request because ACE typically leaves a substantial portion of their budget unused after each year, lending a budget increase unnecessary.  SGA agreed with the appropriations committee’s request and voted to deny an ACE budget increase.

Chancellor Miller attended the meeting to speak as the first order of business.  The resources that students need to succeed that the university is or is not providing is an issue that the Chancellor said keeps him up at night.  He also spoke of the future of higher education and how possible budget cuts will affect UNCW. 

North Carolina’s education is transforming, and both the university and UNC system are working to navigate through the current financial restraint, Chancellor Miller said.

Overall, budgets were the main topic of conversation at the March 12 meeting.  Student organizations rely on SGA to appropriately allocate funds in hard economic times. SGA and Chancellor Miller are warily watching budget cuts and the future of education in North Carolina.