The Student Government Association denied the UCA Dance Team’s funding request for its trip to nationals because it “doesn’t benefit the UCA community as a whole,” which is a harsh notion for an underfunded group that benefits the community already.
Whether through passionate performances on the football field and basketball stadium or their community generosity, such as hosting Purple Passion and the Special Olympics, the dance team is a token of UCA spirit and values.
Jenna Mae Webb, a UCA dance team member, and the team’s coach Whitney Burr stood before SGA on Feb. 5 and requested $25,228 for the team to go to the National Dance Alliance competition in Daytona Beach, Florida, from April 10-14.
This sounds like a colossal demand for a group that already receives university funding, but they emphasized they would appreciate any help.
The amount would cover the competition fees, hotel accommodations, travel expenses, costumes and practice gear.
The average cost of being on the dance team this year is $3,567.68, which the team fundraised 51% of.
Webb said the dance team has “always been a fundraising program,” but the cost of nationals skyrocketed “unexpectedly.”
“By supporting them financially, you not only contribute to their journey to nationals but also enable these young women to focus more on their studies this spring, alleviating the financial burden of $1,182 each they would otherwise need to pay out of pocket,” she said.
The team also had to drain its operation pool and uniform budget to buy new uniforms, which hadn’t been replaced since 2014; they used their travel budget for a camp in Dallas the team must attend to be eligible for nationals.
The dance team’s budget decreased by 34.7% this academic year, shrinking from $27,891 in 2022-2023 to $18,200, despite the athletic department’s budget increasing by 5% this year.
Arguably, it is not SGA’s responsibility to pick up the athletic department’s slack.
However, Burr explained to the senate that she was actively working with the department to get the team’s budget raised.
After speaking with the athletic director and past spirit coordinators, she noticed the budget hadn’t been increased since 2014.
Due to the lack of university funding, the dance team must take matters into their own hands and fundraise or pay out of pocket.
During its Feb. 12 meeting, SGA voted on funding only the $4,025 registration fee, a significantly smaller amount than the original request. They still rejected it in a 17-15 vote.
Since this is the first request from an athletic team, some SGA members were worried about setting a precedent for other athletic teams to request funding.
But, similar to the dance team’s case, they could just vote no.
Even funding less than the new proposed amount would show the student government supports groups the university actively isn’t.
Although Burr said the team is prepared to continue fundraising or pay out of pocket, it is a tragedy that SGA or the athletic department didn’t ease this added stress on a valuable asset to the UCA community.