The last in a series about the budget cuts caused by a decrease in enrollment focuses on Washburn’s Campus Activities Board. CAB is responsible for bringing some of the biggest entertainment events to campus. They have brought in acts such as The S.A.L.S.A. Life with Stan Pearson, Casino Night which is held the weekend before fall semester begins and the Lecture Series each semester.

Their page on the Washburn website states that “CAB provides well-rounded social, educational, cultural and recreational activities for all students, faculty, administration, alumni of Washburn University and the Topeka community.”

The total budget cut for CAB is roughly $12,000 for the school year and that will greatly impact the overall budget for CAB. CAB’s overall budget does flex with each year as it depends solely on the amount of money received from student activity fees. These cuts were not known prior to the creation of the 2013-2014 year budget. The cut of $12,000 is going to be coming out of the overall $50,000 budget for the school year, which is equivalent to four events according to Jessica Barraclough, director of Student Activities & Greek Life.

The SAGL office is the advising office for CAB and all budgeting and management comes from that office. The percentage allocated to CAB from the student activities fee is determined by Washburn Student Government Association and was recently increased from 10 percent to 14 percent.

“Many of our acts are local to the state so we save some money there cutting down travel costs,” said Barraclough. “We also partner with other schools in the area. If we can do block booking with an act for three schools in five days, then we realize a cost savings, more if we can do five schools in seven days but typically we are not able to do that. We will continue to partner with groups such as the multi-cultural department, FYE or the Business School to bring in events at a more cost effective amount.”

In order to ensure student engagement, CAB organizes an event for students each week and schedules smaller events throughout the semester, such as Tunes at Noon or Just Dance. These events have the potential of being cancelled due to the budget cuts. As the semester is winding down, the events that are already booked for the next spring semester are still a go, but there will be less small events offered.

“In order to book the bigger entertainment events, the smaller events such as Tunes at Noon or even giveaways at events would be less,” said Margeaux Seymour, the varieties and entertainment director for CAB.

Barraclough, however, does question if CAB is effectively using the money allotted to them and thinks that a strategic plan needs to be done to find out what students want to see and how they engaged at CAB events.

For more information on CAB or to find out what their next event is, like their facebook page CABATWU or visit their website for a calendar of events at www.washburn.edu/campus-life/student-activities/student-organizations/cab/index.html.