The AcFee committee isn’t diverse enough

Next year I am going to be the co-president of my organization Students Transitioning Relaxed And Natural Developing Sisterhood  (STRANDS). As an incoming president, I was required to go to a meeting with the AcFee committee to help determine how much money my organization should be allocated for the next school year.

In this meeting, I was asked where STRANDS received most of its money from. I answered “the BCC” which, for those who don’t know, is an acronym for the Black Cultural Center.

The two board members that were interviewing me looked very confused, so I restated my answer using the full name. “The Black Cultural Center”.

There was a continued look of confusion, then the question, “here on campus?” was posed. I was shocked they did not know about the BCC and it dawned on me that there was only one other person of color in the room, and I was the only Black person.

The STRANDS Executive Board

The AcFee committee is the Activity Fee committee. There is a fee in every student’s tuition, $100, that goes towards student activities. The committee is made up of students who allocate this money to different student orgs and determine how much money each organization gets.

There were 6883 students enrolled at Vanderbilt in the fall of 2015. That means $688,300 which a student-run organization gets to distribute.

The AcFee board explained to me the committee is used to determine how much money orgs should receive, so no one organization can get a large sum of money and spend it on something crazy, like a trip for the board members.

I understand that, as students, we want our money to actually be going towards our experiences on campus. However, if the AcFee board does not accurately represent the student body, how are we to know the money is going to the right places?

How can one, seemingly non-diverse student organization get to determine what is best for all of Vanderbilt’s students?

Perhaps there are more students of color on the AcFee board than were present in my meeting. However, if that is the case, a more diverse cross-section of students needs to be present in funding interviews, as the amount of funding an organization receives depends heavily on this meeting. Those making important budgetary decisions need to consistently represent all of us.

A student organization dedicated to empowering Black women should not have to be solely reliant upon White students to secure its funding.

Hairstyles for a Hectic Week Event

A group of White students may think an organization dedicated to empowering Black women is not that important on this campus, but a Black woman on campus may feel it is an integral part of her Vanderbilt experience.

The same group may not think a union supporting Asian American students is that necessary, but an Asian international student may believe the AASA is what made his Vanderbilt career manageable.

Many of the multicultural organizations on this campus are underfunded. Vanderbilt has a diverse student population and there are many diverse organizations to cater to everyone’s needs. But, if this diversity is not shown on the board that helps to fund these organizations, how can they prosper?

I challenge more students of color to apply to be on the AcFee board and I challenge the board to start diversifying their organization so that it can represent all of the student body. We all deserve to have a say in where our money goes.