The Office of the President is slated to give Student Senate a lump sum of $5,000 as funding for future initiatives to help better unify north and south campus.

During a meeting with student senators on March 14, College President Marvin Krislov mentioned that he and other administrators had been discussing what they called the “north-south divide,” and offered to establish a fund for the organization to use.

“This is kind of [Krislov’s] brainchild,” said College sophomore Josh Koller, Senate elected co-chair of the Student Finance Committee. “He asked us about the northsouth — be it perceived or real — this divide on campus and if we felt that $5,000 could be used to do something about it.”

Koller said that the money for what they are calling the “North-South Fund” would come directly from the Office of the President and would not come out of the Student Activity Fund.

Senate members have been meeting to brainstorm how to best implement the North-South Fund over the course of the fall semester.

Senate has yet to officially receive the money, though senators have met informally with Dean of Students Eric Estes to discuss the fund.

“The first thing that we’ve discussed is [whether there is] a group on south or north campus that has expressed a need for monetary aid,” Koller said. “In the ABUSUA demands, one of the things they mentioned was a need for funding for the Lord library, and we think we can definitely use a portion of this money to go toward that, probably in the ballpark of about $1,000.”

Koller said that Senate has been discussing how groups of students tend to gravitate toward the parts of campus that happen to serve their needs. For example, many student-athletes specifically live on north campus to be closer to Philips gym and the athletic fields, while south campus is home for program housing that is intended for members of the African diaspora.

“I think any divide that might exist between north and south campus is largely structural,” Student Senate Liaison and double-degree junior Jeremy Poe wrote in an email to the Review. “Our residential campus predominately stretches northto-south, and any allocation of limited resources will inevitably lead to some resources being concentrated closer to one end.”

Poe said that Senate is looking to support the student organizations that already work to break down barriers within the College community.

“I think that it is better for Senate to support existing programming and efforts rather than assume we know what [the] campus needs,” he said.

Koller shared a similar sentiment. The senators have discussed putting some of the funds toward improving the gym in the basement of South Hall to attract more people to the space.

“If we could get some low-cost equipment in there that would let more people use it. I think that would be another great place to spend this money,” Koller said. “It’s not going to make South gym into Philips, but it could go a little ways toward getting more use out of that gym.”

In the final weeks of the semester, Student Senate will be brainstorming more ways to encourage students to visit parts of campus outside of their usual routines. Koller said he would like some TGIFs to be held in South Bowl to draw people to that space.