The details of the funding guidelines were the biggest points of discussion at yesterday’s Student Government Association meeting.
Beta Alpha Psi originally had a finance committee recommendation of zero, but the bill was amended up to $310, to allow for two students to attend the organization’s regional conference in Kansas City, Mo.
The committee originally made a zero dollar recommendation because the committee felt that this conference provided information similar to that of the iLead program and the Leaders of the Pack retreat.
There was an attempt to amend the bill upwards a second time to accommodate for four people to attend the conference, but there was more hesitation for this amendment.
“We didn’t ask if they had two other people that were going to go that week,” College of Arts & Sciences Senator Paul Lederer said. “I don’t want to fund two people if they can’t commit to having two additional people go.”
The honors organization was selected to present about fundraising.
There was also hesitation regarding sending students who weren’t part of next year’s executive board.
“I would normally agree [to send just two students],” First Year Senator Chris Ackels said. “But not when those two people are graduating in a few weeks.”
Vice President of Internal Affairs Andrew Miller disagreed.
“If there’s people presenting, I think we should support that,” Miller said.
The bill passed with an amended allocation of $310.
The Club Rugby team came up with a spot-funding request of $3,817.54. The team qualified for the regional tournament in Baton Rouge, La. The team only found out during the last weekend of spring break that they had qualified for the tournament.
The biggest point of discussion was whether $2,900 should be counted as personal contribution from the team or f?pay for 40 percent of the travel costs.
“They’ve earned this privilege to have the 100 percent,” College of Arts and Sciences Senator Kale Kponee said. “It’s an undue burden on them to turn them down after going to nationals three years in a row.”
For the past three years, Club Tennis was able to receive full funding for its trip to nationals. The group was not aware of the 40 percent stipulation on travel costs.
“[The 40 percent contribution] needs to be communicated to the groups,” College of Arts and Sciences Senator Sonal Oza said. “Because of that, this is a legitimate spot funding reason.”
There was also contention about what kind of precedent this spot funding decision would set.
“This assembly has a bad problem with consistency,” College of Arts and Sciences Senator Max Jordan said. “Why do we set guidelines if we don’t follow them? This is doing groups and our constituencies a disadvantage.”
Johnson said that SGA should “use this moment to congratulate one of our club sports.”
“We should show support with every single dollar,” Johnson said.
SGA did choose to show support, by passing the bill with a spot funding allocation of $3,225.
The dance group Xquizit also received spot funding at the meeting. Xquizit was allocated $1,400 to host a dance performance on campus. As a newly chartered organization, the group did not go up for annual funding last year. This request is also their first funding request.
SGA also amended its constitutional bylaws, allowing for the finance committee to note and track speculative funding for CSOs.
Speculative funding occurs when a CSO wants to plan or to hold an event that the group hasn’t held in the past. This only applies to annual funding, and the finance committee will now follow up on these events and record their findings.
This bill had been tabled for the past four weeks.
It was also enacted that $500 of the Student Activity Fee be put toward the purchase of resources for the “Say NO to Racism” campaign. The campaign is an initiative in response to the acts of racism that have happened on campus this semester.
“It’s straightforward, blunt and gets the message across,” SGA President Michael Harriss said.
Morr said that this is a “great use of the money.”
SGA also passed a resolution supporting Congressional passage of the Collegiate Housing and Infrastructure Act. This act adjusts tax law to allow “housing corporations” to count their improvements and investments as tax deductible.
Housing corporations are non-profit entities of Greek organizations. These corporations maintain and improve their respective chapter rooms in DeMattias Hall.
Miller felt that there were “not a lot of national tractions” for this act, as it has previously died in committee during congressional session.
Kate Maxwell, co-author of the bill, said that “bills die frequently,” and that the death of a bill is not “a reflection of the bill.”
Maxwell was chosen as one of 100 students selected across the country to represent the Greek community at a caucus meeting in Washington D.C. on this act. Maxwell, a Delta Gamma at SLU, is working to get campus support on this act and to bring this support to the caucus.
“This is good for Greek organizations on a national level,” Maxwell said. “[Passing the resolution] will make the bill have this traction.”
“It’s a tax deduction,” Morr said. “I see no reason why we
