MAC (Mines Activity Council)
MAC (Mines Activity Council) needs to have more checks and balances in place. I understand they plan a lot of the events on our campus but their organization should not be so much above all other campus clubs. Not only do all of their members get paid for the time they “work” but their funds also pay for them all to receive +$100 embroidered jackets every year, expensive retreat dinners (nice sushi restaurant) and a weekend trip to Boston (which I understand was for a conference but all other clubs have to pay for their own way to most events that include traveling).
MAC doesn’t follow SAIL rules when it comes to advertising and promoting their events. The amount they post on the class Facebook pages is abonictious (this might be out of your control).
They also have no respect for other clubs and organizations when it comes to them planning events. MAC has consistently planned events over smaller clubs which really hurts the majority of the students organizations and is discouraging to clubs trying to fundraise and grow. They claim that they are willing to collaborate with groups on campus but that is a misleading and false assumption to make. Having tried to work with them before I know first hand they are condescending and don’t enjoy working with other clubs. Most students on campus are involved in clubs and organization that receive very little funding, their officers volunteer their time and spend the same amount of energy as MAC to plan similar events yet they don’t get paid, they don’t get free merchandise and they have to pay their own way to an event.
It’s disappointing that the school puts MAC on this pedestal and does not highlight other clubs on campus who put on similar events. I think our campus would be much better off if our student body supported student run clubs rather than MAC events put on by paid student workers.
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Anonymous commented
Hello,
My name is Matt Ryan and I am the MAC President. Thank you for being honest and sharing your thoughts. It is disappointing to hear we aren't meeting your expectations as a council, but I'd like to clear up a few details to see if I can help appease your concerns
First, we do not think of ourselves as "above" other campus clubs, but we are an organization in a different capacity. We are a governing body on our campus, just as the Undergraduate Student Government (USG), the Board of Student Organizations (BSO), and five others are as well. We have to justify our allocations each year just as every governing body does and our budget is decided by a vote during USG Senate. Clubs receive their allocations from BSO's allocation based on their executive board's discretion.
To address our expenditures, we are paid for the time we put into planning, running, and cleaning up events. The time we commit varies from week to week, from about five hours during weeks in the fall where we only have one event, to our maximum at E-days when we work about 15 to 18 hours per day from Thursday to Saturday, plus clean up time on Sunday. However, those salaries do not currently come from our budget, as there would not be enough due to budget cuts to put on all of the events that we do. In the past we were paid from our own budget, but chose to give up our salaries as not to negatively impact the campus when our budget was cut. Last year we began to be paid again, but by the SAIL office for two reasons: first, for liability reasons, because the university needs to be able to legally represent us for the number of contracts and other expenditures we make. Second, the time we spend doing MAC work prevents us from holding higher paying jobs, and while we all love MAC and the work we are doing, several of us would not be able to continue doing this work for personal finance reasons. As for internal spending, 6.4% of our total budget allocated from USG goes towards our retreats, trainings, NACA conference, and operations expenses. 1.5% of the 6.4% goes towards food for MACers and volunteers during E-Days and other long events. Our trip to Boston was for a four day conference called the National Association for Campus Activities, or NACA as mentioned above. While there, we attend educational sessions to improve our skills as a council, collaborate with university programming boards from across the country, and attend showcases of possible performers for upcoming events. This allows us to book performers at discounted rates and block book them well in advance to ensure the success of some of our future events. NACA is a fundamental key for us, and allows us to program strong, efficient events at Mines.
The lack of club support is something I am sad to hear you believe. This year alone we have worked with several clubs to host events, including one just last week (Olympic watch party and CSMMAC) and two scheduled for next week (Smiles with USG and ARK, as well as Hidden Figures with WISEM). Additionally, we have an Outreach chair, Lauren Wilson, whose job is to talk with other organizations and organize collaborative events. We want all of your interactions with MACers to be positive, so we apologize for the negative ones you may have experienced, but we will continue to work to improve that.
To address the $100 MAC apparel item that we received this year, we have a wonderful connection with an alumnus who works at Patagonia. She was able to offer these sweaters to us at below cost. I do understand how these sweaters would invoke pretentious feelings, but we would never spend more than $40 on a MAC apparel item, and if we do we ask MACers to contribute personal funds. We do feel strongly that an item we can wear to most events and around campus allows people to put a face to our small team and bonds us together, two critical components to our mission.
I'm sorry to hear that you believe we are undeserving Mines. However, I hope that I've cleared up some of your points of contention. If you would like to discuss this topic further, please feel free to reach out to me at maryan@mymail.mines.edu or Lauren at lawilson@mymail.mines.edu. We would be happy to discuss this topic further with you and walk you through our budgeting process. Additionally, allocation presentations for governing bodies will be happening in a few weeks and I would like to strongly encourage you to come listen to our presentation!
If your organization would like to possibly plan an event with MAC, please just let Lauren know your ideas or sign-up to participate at our E-Days carnival or an opportunity of the like. Ultimately, our goal is to improve the quality of life for as many students as we can on this campus and will do whatever we can to make that happen. We are all Mines students and understand the struggles we endure, and as a council we are doing our best to give our students an opportunity to relax and enjoy themselves.
Respectfully,
Matt
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Michael Mason commented
Hello,
I am Michael Mason the Board of Student Organizations Treasurer. I work in the SAIL office front desk and I have manually typed each expense MAC had in the last 4 years into Excel so I believe I have a firm grasp on the situation. Let me shed some light on the matter. MAC spends plenty of time "work"ing. Take a look at the checklist used to keep track of all the events, volunteers, and workers needed for E-Days. Planning an event for 3000+ people is not an easy feat. There is also lots of technical work involved in planning, scheduling, and working through all the paperwork and contracts needed for the concerts, comedians, Friday night movies, etc. Their weekend trip to Boston was to a conference that most of the college Student Activity Councils travel to. This helps them learn to schedule large events, small events, and serve their campus' better. Clubs usually don't have to pay their own way for events and travel. They can move up the tier structure and receive plenty of funding for all their events. BSO only will fund up to 50% of their retreats and conferences (travel).
They advertise for events more frequently than at the club level because all of their events are for the entire community so they try to reach the broader audience. I used to be the president of PRe-Law Society but if we had a club meeting, I didn't advertise to the whole community. If MAC is having a movie night or a small comedy show, I want that large advertising. I don't read every flier. More people on campus are interested in going to a general activity than for a specific club event or meeting. I am not sure what you are getting at when you say they plan events over smaller clubs. MAC typically does stuff every Friday. They also have random smaller events. Club events and meetings are not always planned with reason or rhyme. Yes they are typically held at the same time weekly or bi-weekly in the same room but not every club meets during this one time slot. If MAC plans an event, they picked a time that worked for their activity, in a location that was available along with the time frame for the activity, during times that works for them to be able to staff that event. I am willing to bet that they didn't see a flier posted saying "Pre-Law Society Meeting: Monday at 5PM." then go on to schedule their event at 5 on Monday just for a laugh. I do not know what events you have tried to work with MAC for but the EDays carnival allows clubs to have a booth and advertise or entertain to the students. If MAC is putting on a movie such as The Martian and your club is Space Society, I am willing to bet that if you reached out to them, they would let you promote your club at their event. Scheduling events with multiple clubs or organizations can be a challenge. We are all students who are in over our heads in homework, projects, exams, and extracurricular activities. Our events step on each other's toes and making all of our schedules align will never happen perfectly. I am sure whatever they have done to offend or harm you was not intentional. If you have any questions, just reply to this forum until it is locked or get my email from OrgSync under the BSO page. Or go talk to MAC in the SAIL in person. They are a friendly bunch.