The Residents' Action Council (tRAC) of Ohio University plans to return this winter after a lack of funds forced the group to shut down last Spring Quarter.
The council funds programs and activities for students living on-campus. That funding supplements the money OU provides resident assistants and hall councils for programming in the residence halls.
Because of the council's lack of communication and failure to control spending last year, tRAC found its funds for this school year mostly depleted.
It's a rebuilding year
said tRAC President and OU senior Joshua Offenberger.
Offenberger said he found restructuring the council challenging, as each year a new group of freshmen and sophomores join.
Restructuring will allow tRAC to change the funding application guidelines. The council plans to enforce new guidelines limiting funding for each activity to $1,000 or less. Members of tRAC will vote on funding requests that ask for more than $250 and cut off funding each quarter once 25 to 50 percent of its budget is spent in order to maintain a working budget, Offenberger said.
Junior Laura Bevington, a resident assistant in Brown Hall who joined tRAC's general board this year, said she thought tRAC would help her jumpstart programming in her residence hall.
(It's) a great opportunity to get new ideas for programming she said.
The council's main goal this year is to know where money is going and have carry-over money for the following year Offenberger said.
Every year, tRAC raises money with the help of outside vendors, including the National Association of College and University Residence Halls, Inc. and Collegiate Marketing, Inc. Typically, the vendors give tRAC a percentage of their profits.
The council, however, will not find out how much money it will receive until the end of Fall Quarter, leaving the group without any accurate budget estimates until then.
The council is now largely composed of new staff and advisors, and both Offenberger and Bevington said they feel optimistic about the school year.
There seems like there is a lot of potential
Bevington said.
tRAC meets every Monday at 7 p.m. in Baker University Center room 240. We're always looking for people to come
Offenberger said.
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Alex Felser
