The Syracuse University Outing Club, which has been a student organization for 70 years, may become a club sport against its members’ will because of administrators’ decisions.

SUOC, Student Association, Office of Greek Life and Experiential Learning and Recreation Services representatives met Tuesday at 2 p.m. in Schine Student Center to discuss the club’s standing with the university, said SUOC’s president-elect Bryan Moll.

In the meeting, SUOC expressed its wish to remain a student organization with OGLEL, Moll said. The organization is being pressured to become a club sport under Recreation Services. Moll added that the organization currently enjoys being a student organization under SA because it’s ‘more democratic.’

‘This is being done completely against our will,’ Moll said during an SA meeting Monday night. ‘Rec. Services would be a dictatorship.’

During the meeting Tuesday, Dean of Students Roy Baker told the SUOC representatives they would become a club sport, Moll said.

‘Dean Baker has essentially told us that it’s not our or SA’s decision,’ Moll said.

Baker declined comment.

‘It kind of was demeaning to Student Association’s whole existence,’ said SA President Travis Mason, who was in attendance for the Tuesday meeting. ‘It’s still our job to act in the best interests of students.’

SA Parliamentarian Joan Gabel described the pressure exerted by the administration to convert SUOC to a club sport as ‘inappropriate.’

‘The hostility (the administration has) had to student organizations is pretty clear,’ Gabel said.

Recreation Services wants SUOC to become a club sport because it has all of the components of a club sport, said Joe Lore, director of Recreation Services.

‘I don’t know why SUOC should be treated any different,’ Lore said. ‘A club sport is a campus group that provides recreation, competition and/or instruction in sport related activities.’

If SUOC were to become a club sport, they would be funded by Recreation Services’ co-curricular fee rather than the student fee.

‘(It would) free up more money for other student organizations,’ Lore said. However, Recreation Services does not have sufficient funds to support SUOC next year, Lore said. Because of inadequate funding, it was proposed during the Tuesday meeting that the organization might continue to request partial funding from the student fee.

Both Moll and Mason said that funding SUOC through the student fee would be unrealistic if it were to become a club sport.

‘Why should SA give money to something they have no control over?’ Moll said. ‘It’s taxation without representation.’

DanceWorks, a club sport, obtains some funding from the student fee, Lore said. SUOC will continue to obtain funding through the student fee next year because SA already allocated $28,982.43 to the organization.

Moll proposed a bill to the Student Association Monday night asking for support from the Assembly. About 38 SUOC members were in attendance for the meeting. Fourteen Assembly members were in attendance.

The Assembly delayed a vote on most of the bill until Monday because several Student Association members said they wanted to wait to hear the administration’s perspective.

The Assembly passed part of the bill requesting the organization continue to exercise safety procedures already in place. The administration has repeatedly criticized the organization for not exercising effective risk management and has used it as a reason to propose converting the organization to a club sport, said SUOC First Aid Chair Jesse Ritchie.

‘We don’t need an administrative baby sitter,’ Ritchie said.

SUOC’s safety procedures would be improved if it became a club sport, Ritchie said. Recreation Services would require that SUOC provide the university with a list of members and emergency contact information for each member and require the club to register their trips with the university.

‘I don’t know if there is a mechanism in place if something happens to contact an administrator,’ Lore said. ‘As administrators, we need to provide a support mechanism in case something happens on a trip.’

Moll said he agreed with SA’s reasons for tabling the bill.

‘We brought that up prematurely,’ Moll said.

Former SUOC budget chair Megan Jonas, however, said she was disappointed that 38 SUOC members attended and a definitive resolution was not passed.

‘The part of the resolution that passed is what requires us to do stuff, not support us,’ Jonas said.

Outgoing SUOC President Jessica Logan said SUOC will attempt to gain public support from students, SA and SUOC alumni. Moll added that they will try to start an alumni letter campaign with the help of a Sierra Club lobbyist who is also a SUOC alum.

‘We’re going to motivate people as far away as California,’ Logan said.

Moll also plans to meet with Student Legal Services, he said.

Lore said he would like SUOC to become a club sport.

‘For the best interests of SUOC, it would definitely benefit (SUOC) in the long-run,’ Lore said. ‘They would be a good fit for a club sport.’

Lore said he will try to help reach a solution with SUOC’s input.

‘For SUOC (there) is no change at all,’ Lore said. ‘It’s not like we’re grabbing them by the throat and saying, ‘You gotta change.”

During the first round of Student Association budget votes on April 19, Baker opposed funding SUOC.

‘I would hate for this bill to fail because of, no offense, pressure from the administration,’ said Sharon Clott, SA public relations director.

Published on April 27, 2005 at 12:00 pm