The Student Government Association (SGA) approved the fund request of $9,096.43 to the Indian Students Association(ISA) for their Diwali Show on Oct. 17, 2008.
The Diwali Show, hosted by ISA, is a Hindu festival that is called the Festival of Lights, which is the biggest celebration of the Indian community. It is an annual celebration that is symbolic of the struggle of light and darkness. The event is composed of three parts: the show, dinner, and the open dance. This event is to occur at Nov. 7, 2008. The approval of this request did not pass without opposition.
“$9,096 is way too much money for just one event that happens only at night,” said Sen. Ashley Agron who objected to this proposal. “This money comes out of the SGA’s quarterly budget, and there might not be enough funds for other student organizations to request for their own events.”
Sen. Sunil Mahadeshwar, who is also President of ISA, explained the reasons for the amount requested. “ISA had to put up 10% of the total event amount of the event funds requested. So the cost of Diwali Show was about $10,000 of which SGA contributed about $9,000 and ISA contributed over $1,000. We have that money because of the fundraising that we do. A large portion of the money goes to food, which our food source has to be approved by Sodexho. And, we also have to pay for expenses that are part of the event involving a disc jockey, NEIU staff, wardrobes for student performers, advertising costs, ticket printing, and decorations. The event can’t happen at an earlier time because other students won’t have the time to be able to go because of class.” He also included, “Our dancers and performers who are involved in this event are not exclusively Indian; they are comprised of all ethnicities.”
The funding approval for last year’s Diwali Show was around $6,000. Sen. Sunil stated, “Last year, we had less performers, less program features, and had little security; we only had security to cover the dancer portion. Due to the increased popularity of the Diwali event, we have people wanting more of Diwali, and so we now have more activities and security to cover all three parts.”
Sen. Ashley questioned the availability of this event. “The Diwali event happens at the auditorium with a space limit of only 400 people. Most of these people that attend this event are members from the Indian community. Some of NEIU students that want to attend to this event may not be able to because the capacity to attend is full. There has to be some way to compromise so the students from campus have a bigger chance to have access to this event.”
Sen. Sunil responded to the concern of availability, “ISA has no control over the limit and who will or won’t attend. Our performers have family members that want to attend. We can’t say no to them. Students can get a higher chance of getting access to this event if they buy their tickets in advance.” Sunil explained about the cost of the tickets, which costs five dollars for NEIU students and staff, and 10 dollars for people who are not associated with NEIU. “One dollar goes back to SGA, and three dollars goes to the ASHA organization that helps in providing education to underprivileged children in India.”
Sen. Ashley said, “ISA makes a lot of money from this event. Even if one dollar goes back to SGA and three dollars goes to ASHA, they are still making a six dollar profit from the people attending the event who are not from NEIU, and most of the attendees are not students.” She also went into the ISA’s expenses for Diwali. “ISA could’ve reduced their need for the amount they requested if they could’ve worked with the resources they have and requested the funds for things they don’t have. Sunil wasn’t sure that a sponsor was secured for this event. These sponsors can give them money reducing the dependency on the SGA funds. There are ways that could be looked into on reducing these expenses so that other student organizations have a chance to access those funds from the SGA quarterly budget.” She also stated, “I understand that ISA wants to make this year’s Diwali bigger and better; I am also one of the performers there. However, who is really benefiting more, NEIU or the Indian community?”
Sen. Sunil explained about the profits received from the Diwali show. “The profits that ISA make from Diwali goes into their future events. For example, The ISA Summer Show was funded by the profits that we received from last year’s Diwali show.”