Since the beginning of January, a group of 20 plus people has gathered each Thursday night in the Oregon Room of the Werner University Center for an annual meeting process, known most commonly by three capital letters: IFC. Meetings, which begin at 7 p.m., generally last three to four hours; they purpose to allocate student funds for the following academic year and determine what groups can best spend student fee money. Department heads are generally responsible for submitting each area's budget, the small contingency of students for analyzing the requests. Around 9 p.m., the students and staff seated around the long horseshoe arrangement of tables start popping the second round of soda cans and fisting handfuls of the Red Ropes being circulated around the table-brain food for the discussion continuing into the next few hours. By this point in February, most of the numbers have already been crunched and budget-inflating tactics discovered. However, all students still have the opportunity to weigh in on the final decision. Next week members of the IFC (Incidental Fee Committee) will host two open hearing gatherings to let students advocate for their areas of interest.
For more information, contact IFC chair Cristin Stevens: cstevens06@wou.edu
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