In an attempt to curtail past problems that the Student Finance Committee experienced in allotting money to campus organizations, the new budgetary committee has made a few policy changes. They are frontloading less money to clubs and, instead, allocating more money during appeals and discretionary funding. That the budgetary committee is taking the initiative to make changes that they feel are necessary is encouraging.

But their failure to explain such changes is not quite as encouraging. Certainly, the clubs that were affected by these changes-all clubs on campus, though some more so than others-did not appreciate the lack of explanation behind the assignment of club budgets.

Keeping in mind the fairly significant change in the method by which budgets are now allocated, the budgetary committee should have presented, along with the budgets, details about the change in the policy. More formal information as to the changes in how budgets would be created this semester, as opposed to past semesters, would have been appreciated by many clubs left in the dark. Many of the complaints over the levels of funding received by various clubs might have been prevented by increased communication early on.

Also, considering that so many clubs go through the appeals process, it would be more efficient to meet with individual clubs beforehand and discuss one-on-one each specific club's budget. This would limit, and possibly even eliminate, the number of appeals that come the way of the budgetary committee.

While they are reforming the way in which clubs spend money, the budgetary committee might also want to consider using purchase orders, which are tax exempt and would save the college five percent of costs.

The money in consideration by the budgetary committee is no small sum and it is certainly not an amount to which any student enrolled at Amherst can be indifferent. We must ensure that the funds that we have are used to our best advantage.