Historically, Alumni Weekend and Parent Weekend have been a wonderful time for student groups to raise funds. It is one of the few times a large number of members of the UR community return to campus. These people may have fond memories of their days here, especially for the student groups they were a part of.
Since the inception of Meliora Weekend, student groups have not been allowed to fundraise during this weekend. We feel that it is wrong to deny these student groups the golden opportunity to make money.
Alumni are frequently asked for large donations. Parents are already shelling out huge tuition fees. Student groups selling flowers or compact discs are a drop in the bucket compared to these massive costs. An argument against student fundraising is that it will corrupt the idea of Meliora Weekend, and distract from the celebration of the university. We do not think that allowing student groups to fundraise will change the weekend’s vision, instead it will benefit campus life by providing important funds.
Meliora Weekend should be about displaying our actual campus in addition to bringing great speakers from off-campus. Student groups are one of the major elements of life on the River Campus, and they should be allowed use Meliora Weekend to raise money so that they can have the funds to shine for the rest of the year.
Considering that almost every group has had some cutbacks in their funding recently, depriving them of this fundraising opportunity hurts us all. College students are not known for having any spare money, let alone enough to splurge on something like a Yellowjacket’s serenade or CD. Parents and alumni are much more likely to have some spare cash to spend on these things.
While technically no fundraising is allowed at the weekend overall, if a corporation is a “co-sponsor” ? having paid $5,000 ? they may set up a table, though they may not actively raise funds. Not many student groups have the money to co-sponsor Meliora Weekend, nor would they make it back by fundraising. But they shouldn’t have to ? the university should let them utilize this weekend, because they too are a part of our community. We encourage student groups to contact Dean Green to express their concerns and that he follow through with his promise to open a dialogue to reconsider the no fundraising policy.