For the first time, the Student Association of Binghamton University is conducting an audit of student groups who hold office space on campus — something that could result in a shakeup of how space is allocated to groups.

The audit requires groups to submit a form detailing the number of members they have, the number of years they have had an office and why they need the office.

According to Jenna Goldin, executive vice president of the SA, procedures for conducting a yearly audit of groups’ office space are currently being written into the SA bylaws. Goldin is overseeing this year’s audit in conjunction with the Assembly’s Rules Committee, which is made up of 10 members and a chair, Kyle Cooper.

“The office space audit procedure has nothing to do with the charter of a group,” Goldin said. “[The audit will be] used to determine the usage of space on campus and to help allow the SA to make an informed recommendation to the [University] Union Office every year on how space should be allocated.”

Goldin said that all groups have submitted their information. According to Goldin, the Rules Committee will now go through the submitted data and the groups’ financial information. The Committee will then schedule meetings with groups whose office allocation it wishes to reconsider, as well as with groups that are requesting offices. Following this, the Committee will issue an office space allocation recommendation without input from Goldin or Cooper. These recommendations must be approved by the Assembly, after which Goldin said she will work with the University Union Office to carry them out.

Brian Rose, vice president for student affairs, said that the final ruling on office space allocation lies with the administration and not with the SA.

“The space in the University Union is not space that is leased to the SA and then subleased to other people,” Rose said.

Goldin said that because there is limited office space for student groups and a high demand for office space, something needed to be done to ensure the best use of this space.

“The current allocation of offices has not really been changed in the past 10 years, and the needs of student groups have definitely changed since then,” she said.

She claimed that the SA has granted charters to more than 60 new student groups during her four years at Binghamton University.

“Student group needs are changing, and the SA needs to ensure they are doing right by their chartered organizations,” Goldin said.

STUDENT GROUP OPINIONS

Greg Horowitz, president of College Democrats, which has an office, said he is looking forward to a change in how groups are allocated office space. He said that the criteria to get an office should be based on how much groups give back to the University.

“College Democrats has utilized its space and made the most of what it has to offer, but any organization has the ability to do that,” Horowitz said. “This isn’t about kicking out organizations or setting a hierarchy, this is about maximizing the opportunity, and the SA needs to figure out how to do so.”

According to Goldin, some groups currently lobbying for office space include Explorchestra, the Pre-Medical Association, Prospect, College Republicans, KnitWits and the Zombie Student Association.

John Zade, president of the Pre-Medical Association, said that a permanent office would allow his group’s 423 active members a place to work on their goal of getting ready for graduate school.

“The office space will also allow for our organization’s officers to hold discussions and executive meetings, as well as meet with the directors of medical schools in a more professional manner,” Zade said.

LIMITED OFFICE SPACE AVAILABLE

WHRW, BU’s student-run radio station, has an office in the basement of the New University Union, but leaders of the groups say they are still very much cramped for space.

“We are constantly growing and gaining new members,” said Ryan Naru, WHRW’s public relations director. “We are out of space. That’s the reality of it. A lot of groups are out of space.”

Most of WHRW’s space issues are caused by the continuous growth of the organization’s music collection, which includes some 40,000 vinyl records and 20,000 CDs. According to Naru, the record library cannot house the full collection, so the hallway and sound rooms are also used for storage.

“We are renovating our offices now to completely maximize the space we have,” Naru said. “We know that if we don’t, there is no way we will get any more from the SA,” Naru said.

WHRW’s six-room suite has a maximum occupancy of 15 people, a number that they are regularly forced to exceed in order to accommodate their large membership. Naru said that this and the group’s inflammable vinyl record collection lining the hallways were potential fire hazards.

“We are technically up to code, but we know that it’s a safety issue,” he said. “We don’t feel comfortable.”

SOME SEE ROOM FOR ABUSES

For groups who demonstrate sufficient need for space, the SA’s audit could be beneficial. For others, however, the SA’s decisions on space allocation may prove problematic.

The Rules Committee first attempted to remove BU’s chapter of New York Public Interest Research Group (NYPIRG) from its office in the New University Union this semester after it determined in February that the group no longer met criteria to deserve office space. The Rules Committee’s Feb. 7 report to the Assembly said it looked at how NYPIRG measured on four criteria: “membership totals, impact [on] student life, age of group and need for office space.” Randal Meyer, the acting chair of the Rules Committee at the time it called its hearing on NYPIRG, said that the criteria was collectively devised by the Committee during its deliberations at that hearing.

NYPIRG appealed the eviction to the SA Judicial Board, which ultimately ruled in favor of the SA and recommended on March 14 that NYPIRG be given four business days to leave the office.

Nevertheless, NYPIRG has not complied with the order so far.

Rose also said during an April 12 forum that the University has not acted to enforce the eviction because his office’s investigation into whether NYPIRG was targeted for eviction for ideological reasons — as the group claims — is ongoing.

Goldin said the situation demonstrated the need for a comprehensive audit of all groups’ offices.

“Although no rules were broken [by evicting NYPIRG], the situation did show that there needs to be a more codified and refined system in place to make these types of decisions,” she said. “The office space audit should absolutely prevent future spacing problems.”