Adventure Outings successfully rallied as a community to urge the Associated Students Facilities Committee at Chico State to partially restore funding to the program. The Adventure Outings program was to be cut out of the proposed budget, originally released April 7. The proposed budget was adjusted and approved at the April 14 meeting.

The board of directors must still approve these changes to the budget, but it appears that AO is here to stay. Interim executive director of Associated Students, Curtis Sicheneder, said this budget “affords AO the opportunity to remain.”

Chris Sortor, AO trip leader and student manager, said he felt “Relieved to be completely honest.”

The ASFC proposed a new budget restoring funding in a reduced fashion. The proposed idea to “sunset” the program would save around $400,000 but the approved budget  contains AO cuts totaling “about $164,000,” said Sicheneder. 

Many students, alumni and outdoor enthusiasts spoke at the meeting and were adamant that AO is more than an outdoor program, that is a leadership and community-building program. Joc Clark, kinesiology professor at Chico State, said it is a “Leadership development program in disguise.”  

Tessa Coffee, AO trip leader spoke before voting took place to the members of the ASFC and said, “Your [the ASFC] vote on this means so much to so many.”  The revised budget passed unanimously with five “Yes” votes.

The realignment of the budget did cause certain budgetary cuts elsewhere on campus. Budget reductions are being spread more throughout the departments covered by ASFC rather than consolidated solely into AO.

The April 14 meeting was scheduled for ninety minutes to include time for public opinion, but it didn’t exceed one hour. Adventure Outings supporters agreed with the shrinking of their budget in order to save the program, rather than lose it as a whole. 

Wyatt Alpert can be reached at [email protected].