Club sports teams were informed Monday of the allotments they will receive from the $33,690 Club Sports Advisory Board budget, Yale College Council liaison and CSAB Chair Jeff Sun ’08 said.

The 10-member CSAB, created in January, has been working to ameliorate some of the financial concerns facing many of Yale’s 43 club sports teams and has determined how to allocate its budget — apportioned from the YCC’s Student Activities Fee last semester — based on individual teams’ needs and circumstances. Captains and members of many club sports teams said it is a constant challenge for them to pay for equipment and travel costs with the funds that Yale provides, and members have often had to pay out of pocket.

Haley Warden ’08, a member of the women’s rugby club team, said her team received $1,300 out of the $4,380 they requested from the CSAB.

“We need it for real,” she said. “We are happy to get what we can.”

Tina Jeon ’08, president and captain of club archery, said the expense of competing may prevent promising athletes who cannot afford costly equipment from participating.

“I’d say what our team needs most out of CSAB is financial support for travel and registration expenses,” Jeon said. “I was able to purchase club equipment that team members use communally, but some members have bought their own equipment as they get more comfortable with and excited about the sport. I would, however, love to be able to back financially those who have the talent but not necessarily the financial means to purchase their own equipment.”

YCC President Steven Syverud ’06 said the CSAB was designed to improve the club sports experience at Yale.

The new funds will supplement, not replace, the money already allocated by the Yale administration, Syverud said. Club Sports Director Tom Migdalski, who also serves on the CSAB, will transfer roughly half of his normal allotted budget into the CSAB’s control.

“At least 50 percent of the money normally under my auspices will be pooled in with the Student Activities Fee money,” Migdalski said.

Though the YCC allocated a blanket payment of $270 to each club sports team this past fall, the CSAB will not be distributing funds uniformly.

“Money will be distributed fairly, but not a blanket where everybody gets $300,” Migdalski said. “There are many factors that go into deciding.”

Evan Smith ’07, captain of the club water polo team, said the YCC’s fall contribution was too small to make a real impact on his team.

“It didn’t even pay for vans for a weekend,” he said.

Though many club sports members said they appreciate this semester’s extra boost from the YCC, some students said they are still unhappy with the way in which the Council originally obtained the funding.

Max Sklar ’06 said he thinks it was unfair of the YCC to institute an opt-out — rather than opt-in — system for collecting the Student Activities Fee last fall.

“I don’t like the system in which they implemented it,” he said. “They took advantage of student apathy by not publicizing it. I hope that next year they will come up with a better system.”

Migdalski said the CSAB money was awarded this term on the basis of various criteria, including the relative costs of each sport. Other factors included the number and distance of competitions, the effort that individual teams put into fund raising, and the necessity of requested items, he said.

The CSAB is comprised of seven student athletes, Sun, Migdalski and club sports intern Robin Lubisco. When asked whether the CSAB plans to address concerns such as field time, gym usage and publicity, Sun said that the Board’s primary concern this semester will be funding for teams.

“The CSAB as its set up right now is only dealing with terms of funding,” Sun said. “We’re not really sure right now where the CSAB will go in the future, but as of right now we are only dealing with funding.”

But Migdalski said he is optimistic about the future of the CSAB and hopes to incorporate responsibilities like reviewing applications for new clubs.

“This board will, besides helping find equitable ways to allocate Student Activities Fee money, will also act as an advisory board to me,” Migdalski said.

The YCC raised about $172,000 through the optional $50 student activities fee this year, and about 37 percent of students opted out of the fee.

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