Staying ‘Cautiously Optimistic’ — Spring '23 Budget Cuts Impacting Student Organizations and Houses

The King’s College Student Body | Photo Curtesy of The King’s College

The student organizations and Houses of The King’s College are already feeling the effects of the shortened school hours and budget cuts coming to King’s this semester. 

As the news shocked most, student organization presidents were not given advance notice to make the necessary plans. 

“Nobody really got much-advanced warning, but org presidents in particular really didn't get any which was just a little bit frustrating,” said Caroline Judd, a junior and the president of King’s Players. “Financially right now, we are in a good place. I do wish we had been notified because we made a pretty big purchase before we knew about this and just might have approached that differently if we had known that that was coming.”

Student leader reactions to the Welcome Back Gathering announcement also varied. 

“I think what was conveyed at the Welcome Back Gathering was almost more hopeful in a way than the reality of it all might be,” said Lydia Reigle, a senior and vice president of The Bridge. “When we found out later the actual budget cuts and the extent of that, the reality of that became more clear.”

“I’m still cautiously optimistic,” said Evan Louey-Dacus, a senior and the president of King’s Debate Society. “I like Interim President Day, but I know that he has a significant amount of political experience. When I hear something that he says that encourages me, I wonder if it’s actually encouraging or if it’s just because he knows how to play the game.” 

Student orgs receive funding via grants each semester, which has been cut in half as part of the change. 

“This will be a huge blow to the King's Players' budget, which will, because of the org's nature, change how we produce the play we are putting on in April,” said Juliette Hacquebord, a sophomore and the vice president of the King’s Players. “However, much like the college itself, a theater org's very core is not about the money.”

For The King’s Players, the new school hours are a larger complication than the budget cuts. King’s administration announced that the school will close two hours earlier on weekday evenings. 

“Right now the cutting [of] campus hours is what’s going to hurt us the most because the campus is our venue, that’s where we rehearse,” said Judd. “My actors have jobs and internships that they don't get out of until 6-7:00 p.m., and then we can’t rehearse for more than an hour at a time and our show is 2.5 hours.”

Still, the cuts affect the quality and the type of events that student organizations are able to provide.

“We were going to offer up four tournaments this semester,” Louey-Dacus said, “and now we can only offer one.”

“Having the budget cuts forces us to be more thrifty and creative with planning fun events that will attract more people to support our org,” said Reigle, “especially when it’s based around including Asian-American Pacific Islanders. We want to make sure that it continues to stay strong.” 

The House system faces budget cuts as well. 

“It’s going down by about a third, which is a lot, but we can still do a lot with two-thirds,” said Sam Parks, a junior and the president of the House of Winston Churchill. “Add to that the fundraising we’re going to do, and it’s not as big of a shock as it appeared right off the bat.”

Annual house retreats are often taking the hardest budget hit.

“Last year when I was Helmsman, we got $1000 for House Retreat,” Adams said.” Now, with the budget cuts, it’s two hundred dollars.”

The student orgs and Houses are also finding ways to fundraise and meet their needs in new ways.

“Right now, we have a dinner fundraiser,” said Parks, “so we’ll have a couple of apartments across the city hosting dinner. We’ll cook a four-course meal for you, you guys come out and bring your friends, pay fifteen bucks, and then you have the House of Sir Winston Churchill waiting on you.” 

Despite navigating the new financial adjustments, many King’s students remain hopeful. 

“I do think that it’s possible to find hope in the situation, even as scary as it can be, and know that we’re a gritty group of people,” Adams said. ”We have really wonderful staff and faculty who are on our side and want the best for us… no matter what happens, we’ll be ok.”

Joanna Insco is a sophomore from California studying Journalism, Culture and Society at The King’s College. She is an intern at The Brooklyn Paper and is involved in ESTV. She enjoys spending time in nature and drinking copious amounts of coffee.