Fund helps bring speakers to campus

Brian Borden

Brian Borden

Many students wonder where their student fees are going when they pay their tuition each fall and spring.Part of that money goes into a $15,000 fund for guest speakers. The fund is part of the budget of the Student Association(SA), which distributes the student fees to various clubs and organizations at SDSU.

SA Vice President Betsy Suter said the fund was set up to help meet organization needs.

“We set it aside initially because we got requests for speakers and it came from the special allocation fund,”she said. “The speaker fund just started a year ago. It’s a really good opportunity for clubs,” Suter said.

SA Finance Chair Dustin Weibel said the money helps groups get speakers more quickly.

“With the amount of funds we have, we’re able to allow groups to bring in speakers to campus without having to fundraiser a year or two in advance to generate funds for it,” Weibel said.

The fund has already helped bring some famous speakers to SDSU, Weibel said.

“We’ve brought Herman Boone to campus from ‘Remember the Titans’. We also brought Bill Clinton’s Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman to campus,” Weibel said.

He said the money is open to all student organizations.

“We make these funds available to any organization who wants to sponsor an event for the students. The idea is that in allocating this money, they will ultimately provide events for the entire student body,” he said. “That’s the purpose of student fees.”

FarmHouse member Chris Parker, a sophomore computer science major, said he did not know there was a special fund set aside for speakers.

“I wasn’t aware we had a fund for that, but it makes sense, with all the speakers we have had, Parker said.