College Council (CC) will transfer about $4,000 of its funds to various clubs chartered under BBA Council by the end of the week, according to BBA Council President Jay Krishnaswamy (16Ox, 19B).
It is unclear how CC approved the transfer. Krishnaswamy said he had “no idea” how it was approved, and CC President Radhika Kadakia (20C) and Vice President Hemal Prasad (19C) declined interviews to discuss the transfer. There is no mention of transfers between undergraduate divisions in the Student Government Association (SGA) Finance Code.
The CC legislature did not discuss or vote on the transfer in any of its public meetings since the Wheel reported on Sept. 5 that the two governing bodies were negotiating a dollar amount to be transferred.
CC will be named as a co-host for some events organized by BBA clubs because of the transfer, Krishnaswamy said. The events that the CC money will go toward have historically recorded higher rates of College student participation, according to Krishnaswamy. Krishnaswamy declined to provide the specific events.
Kadakia and Prasad previously agreed to the transfer earlier this semester, but it was not finalized until an Oct. 19 meeting between Krishnaswamy, SGA BBA Liaison Geoffrey Tseng (19B), CC Adviser Sarah Beth Potter, BBA Council Adviser Danielle Mitchell-Damron, Associate Director of the Office of Student Leadership and Services (SILT) Natasha Hopkins and Associate Director of Student Governance Services (SGS) VonYetta Hunter, according to Krishnaswamy. Prasad and Kadakia did not attend the meeting, Krishnaswamy said.
Prasad said in September that he and Kadakia were hesitant to give money to BBA Council, but they agreed to do so after Krishnaswamy said College students could be excluded from BBA clubs if BBA Council does not receive more funds, Prasad said.
“At first we were hesitant, but then the idea was thrown up in the air that if we didn’t give BBA [Council] money, College students would be excluded from BBA clubs,” Prasad said. “We want to represent the College students as best we can … so that’s why we thought that it would be in everyone’s favor to provide a short term solution.”
The transfer will only cover BBA club events for the remainder of the academic year, but Krishnaswamy said he hopes to find a more sustainable long-term funding option for BBA Council.
“We hope we can find a different method for funding for this — whether that means that SAF changes are coming, or if that means we are able to find a better path forward to do this … but we’re still examining that,” Krishnaswamy said. “This buys us some time to think about it.”
Krishnaswamy previously attempted to amend the student activities fee (SAF) split last Spring with Bill 52sl2, which he co-wrote to increase the amount of money that the BBA Council would receive from the SAF Fee Split. Krishnaswamy also co-sponsored the bill that calls for the club participation audit.
Executive Editor | cyan24@emory.edu
Christina Yan (21B) is from Monmouth Junction, N.J., majoring in business administration. She previously served as assistant news editor and news editor. She won a 2018 Mark of Excellence Award from the Society of Professional Journalists in the General News Reporting category for her coverage of Emory Law Professor Paul J. Zwier II’s use of the N-word in class and also placed as a finalist in the same category for her investigation of the 2018 Student Government Association elections. Outside the Wheel, she is an academic fellow, QTM100 lab assistant and a member of Emory China Care's marketing team. In her spare time, she enjoys flexing on others with her ability to eat spicy food.
