In an effort to increase cooperation between student groups, Student Government Association Treasurer-elect Ben Mendelsohn is starting a new SGA fund next semester called the “collaboration fund.”

For a student group to access the fund, they must prove that they are developing a program in collaboration with either the SGA or another student group on campus.

Mendelsohn said he has not allotted how much money will go into the fund, and that he will produce a budget over the summer. Current SGA fees will not increase because of the fund.

“I am currently looking into how much the SGA gains from summer and minimester student fees,” he said. “This money is difficult to calculate/predict and has not, to my knowledge, been attempted before. The consideration of these fees will open up a lot of options that can be used in the collaboration fund and other executive initiatives.”

Junior Tim Flaherty said he would like to see more events like the Unity in the Community forum because he doesn’t often see groups working together.

“You don’t see a lot of collaborative events on campus,” he said. “There are just more individual events. I think they should have more collaborative events because they’re using the same funds anyways.”

Mendelsohn said the collaboration fund is an improvement on the existing Prove It! fund, which this year totaled over $28,000, according to outgoing SGA president Matt Sikorski.

Recipients using Prove It! must fill out a lengthy application in advance to apply. The Prove It! fund allocates money for events or initiatives to student groups that don’t have enough money to plan an event that would benefit the community. The Prove It! fund will still exist next year.

“There are much less restrictions, pretty much any group can access [the collaboration fund],” he said.

Greek life was one of the most interested groups on campus when the collaboration fund was first brought up, according to Mendelsohn.

“When I went to various Greek meetings, they all said they were all really interested, especially in not only one Greek group working with other Greeks, but Greek organizations working with non-Greek organizations,” Mendelsohn said. “All sorts of groups on campus really want to work together.”

Sophomore Keiara West said she has heard the Black Student Union was already interested in working with other groups as well.

“It will definitely help to break down a lot of barriers on campus because I feel like a lot of the groups are separated,” she said.

Mendelsohn said he hopes the new fund will help the campus come together and host more diversity events, and also promote an overall sense of community.

“Towson has a really diverse campus,” he said. “But if we aren’t coming together to share those things and embracing and sharing our differences, having a diverse campus doesn’t really mean much.”