Sponsorships for student groups audited for fairness
By Emily Inouye
June 8, 2005 9:00 p.m.
Corporate sponsors offer everything ranging from cash donations
to discounts to pairs of socks in exchange for extra advertising
with UCLA student groups.
Last month, the Center for Student Programming conducted an
audit of corporate sponsorships.
One of the goals of the audit was to officially recognize what
campus student groups receive, in order to determine the nature of
these sponsorships as well as the fairness of the contracts.
Of the 583 officially recognized student groups, which are
groups that have department sponsors, only 48 groups responded, 33
of which actually had corporate sponsorship, said Kenn Heller, the
associate director of the center.
Originally the audit was conducted to ensure that student groups
were not offering too many incentives in return for sponsorships,
and more importantly, not offering exchanges that they were not
necessarily authorized to give.
But Heller said that the primary cause for concern that arose
from the audit was that contracts or agreements were often between
the corporation and the student group itself.
“A registered organization that’s officially
recognized has no legal status unto itself,” Heller said.
“It is three people, and they in essence are representative
of the department … that agreement should be entered into by the
department on behalf of the group.”
In order to remedy this, Heller said it would likely become a
policy that in order to enter into any contracts, the department
that is affiliated with the group must not only be informed of the
agreement but also be party to it.
This would ensure that if there were any circumstances in which
agreements must be challenged, both parties would have legal
status.
The Cultural Affairs Commission, which puts on the Jazz Reggae
Festival each year, requires extensive corporate sponsorship to
fund all of the different aspects of the event.
This year’s event, which took place May 29 and 30, was
more extensive in terms of its sponsorship than in previous
years.
“We are still waiting for some money,” said Todd
Hawkins, a second-year theater student who was the director of the
festival this year. “But no sponsor is allowed on the field
without a contract or proof that they were going to pay
us.”
Sponsorships were varied but fell within a few different
categories ““ discounts, cash donations, product donations and
sample products.
In return, groups allow corporations to advertise at events,
conduct information sessions at their meetings and place their
logos in group brochures and Web sites.
At the Jazz Reggae Festival, for example, the car company Scion
donated $20,000 and in return the company was allowed to bring up
to three cars to the festival as well as to place their logo on the
event Web site, brochures and other publicity.
The UCLA Women’s Rugby Team received sponsorship from
www.ballsout.com in the form of 25 pairs of shorts and socks for
the entire team. In return for the merchandise, the team had to
agree to do most of their equipment shopping with the company as
well as wear the company’s logo on the shorts.
“The sponsorships reduce our club fees because we only
have to charge $150 members since we gave them shorts and
socks,” said Michelle Kwandham, a second-year psychology
student who is a member of the team. “It definitely does help
a lot.”
