The Fordham University Student Life Council (SLC) met for the second time this semester on Oct. 15 to hear from Rose Dara, the assistant athletic director for events, intramurals and club sports alongside several other club sports leaders.
Dara requested an increase in allocation of money from the student activities fee to club sports from $33k to $60k.
“The current allocation we have … doesn’t nearly cover our expenses, and it leads our clubs to have to pay a significant amount of dues, a lot of fundraising, a lot of alumni and donor outreach,” Dara said. “We are just looking to cover our expenses, some of our safety concerns like having a mandated trainer at rugby events, [and] wrestling matches.”
Dara was joined in support by several club leaders. Isabella Sill, GSB ’26, spoke on behalf of the club volleyball team as their current president.
“As of now, all our nets, both for intramural and club, are just falling apart and might break at any second,” she said.
Sill also discussed current fundraising options for clubs, noting that all of their efforts haven’t been enough.
“It’s been difficult for us, especially this season,” she said. “We aren’t really able to pay for it out of pocket since we have been fundraising for the past few years, but we don’t get a lot of money from Fordham.”
Sill continued by explaining specific financial problems as well.
“Since we are a new club, it’s kind of hard to get donors from alumni … so the only money we really have is from fundraising ourselves or from Fordham,” she said.
Tessa Hofheimer, FCRH ’26, president of Fordham Women’s Rugby, shared their experiences with funding.
“We can’t afford athletic trainers with the dues and the fundraising that we have, so we pay FUEMS … every injury that happens, all they can do is really send them to the hospital, so we end up losing a lot of our players throughout the games, on injuries that could be dealt with on the sidelines, by an athletic trainer,” Hofheimer explained.
“We could also be disqualified right now by not having the proper safety protocols” added Hofheimer. “In order to be competing at the level that we are, we really should have and need athletic trainers on the side for player safety.”
When asked if the new increase would also lead to an increase in the fee that all students pay every year to make up the whole student activities fee, Vice President of Budgets and Finance Peter Grimes, FCRH ’26, assured the council that it would not. The Student Activities fee was increased after the United Student Government had passed a referendum in recent years due to a campus-wide need for more club funding.
There were also several questions from the council in regards to the increase. The associate director for campus center operations, Stephen Clarke, wanted to know if the increase would be enough, or if Dara would have to come back in coming years to request more.
“It’s not nearly enough, but we wanted to see where we can meet you guys in the middle,” Dara answered.
Jenna Cook, the assistant dean for seniors at the Gabelli School of Business, asked what would happen if the current number of club sports teams decreased.
“We have a very rigorous process for accepting new clubs. They have a two-year probationary period where they don’t get any funds and they have to prove that they’re kind of self-sufficient within their means,” Dara responded.
Following the questioning period, the increase was put to a vote. The new budget was passed unanimously in an open vote format.
Aishna Gaikwad, GSB ’26, shared the Campus Activities Board (CAB) updates. She noted that they are gearing up for Family Weekend, and specifically shared that CAB has invited both Rose Hill and Lincoln Center groups to participate in Maroon Main Stage. These performances will take place on Saturday, Oct. 25, starting at 8 p.m. in Fordham Preparatory School’s theater.
Nicole Vaughan, the assistant director for housing operations shared that Resident Assistant (RA) applications launched on Oct. 15, and will be due in January, with the deadline for those going abroad in mid November.
Associate Vice President and Dean of Students Christopher Rodgers announced that the position of vice president and dean of students has been accepted by Kevin Williams, who will begin work in his new position in place of Rodgers in November.
