Student Assembly

Organitions: Haven: The LGBTQ Student Union
Date: November 5th, 2012

The Appropriations Committee found Haven to be a very well fun organization that plays an integral role in the undergraduate Cornell community. The committee valued Haven’s ability to co-manage its three roles as a programming board, umbrella organization, and funding board. While members of the committee believed that Haven utilized their allocation in an efficient manner, there were multiple ways that they felt the organization could improve its operations.

First, committee members believe Haven should increase its publicity for its social support group components. A very strong value was placed on the existence of the breadth of the support services provided by the member organizations, but members felt students on campus were currently not utilizing them to a full extent due to a lack of knowledge. Committee members suggested that Haven promote these groups to a greater extent, specifically to freshmen and particularly during Orientation Week.

Additionally, the members of the Appropriations Committee support Haven’s desire to move the location of Filthy Gorgeous to Barton Hall this year. Members felt that this was an important step for both Haven an the event to take as both continue to increase their prominence on campus. While the committee recognized that this would incur an increased cost, they recommended Haven utilize ticket sales for the larger event. Otherwise, the committee looked very favorably both upon Haven’s decision to try and limit their own expenditures on the event and the push to draw students who do not directly associate with the LGBTQ community to attend the event.

Multiple members of the committee voiced strong support for Haven advancing or expanding its co-sponsorship budget because they felt that it promoted a more inclusive culture and helped Haven expand its message to areas of campus that have not yet had the opportunity to learn from or interact with Haven. However, other members felt that Haven’s funds were best spent internally on developing the sustainability of both its own programing and the operations of its members organizations. Ultimately the members of the Appropriations Committee believed that Haven was appropriately rationalizing its funding decision and recommends that it continues to express the same level of thought and research to future committees.

Overall, the Appropriations Committee applauds Haven for its leadership, organization, and structure and looks forward to working with it over the course of the upcoming year. Under its current operations and assuming an increase in revenue via ticket sales for Filthy Gorgeous, the committee voted to maintain Haven’s current level of funding.

Respectfully submitted,

Ronal Desai ‘13
Vice President for Finance
Student Assembly