In a prolonged debate Sunday, the Undergraduate Senate voted 21-3 to pass a budget that was revised at least nine times during the session.
The budget, which was formulated by the Senate Budget Committee, allocates $590,400 across 25 organizations and initiatives run by the Student Government. This is the same amount the SG was granted for last year’s budget.
Steve Dalton, senator for the class of 2010 and chair of the Budget Committee, shared his thoughts on the allocation process in an interview.
“It was my hope that we would get to allocate more based on enrollment,” Dalton said. “However, Student Activities said they wanted us to budget just the $590,400, and that’s what we did.”
After listening to the budget proposals from all the organizations, Forrest Young, Class of 2012 Senator and member of the Budget Committee, explained how the committee makes decisions about who gets what.
“Every person on the budget committee comes to the meeting with what we see as a being a priority,” Young said. “I think even more important than that is that we sit through so many sessions, and we hear so many people’s opinions on different issues, and we develop a feeling for what the campus thinks.”
However, not everyone was happy with the proposed budget. The topic of greatest debate was Women’s Initiative funding. A number of students attended the meeting in support of more funding for Women’s Initiative.
Other representatives spoke during public comment to express their concerns for organizations such as class councils.
“I am here to pose a question: How are class councils supposed to do their jobs if they keep getting budget cuts year after year?” Class of 2012 Vice President-elect David Wolkowicz said.
Comments such as these and the debate over the Women’s Initiative budget put the SG into a two-hour debate in which tempers flared and senators repeatedly asked to close debate on the budget.
“We’re not just here for two hours,” Class of 2013 Senator Avi Bublick said at one point during the meeting. “It’s however long it takes to get the job done.”
Major changes to the budget included a shift in funding for many organizations, including Kennedy Political Union, SG General, Women’s Initiative and AUTO.
To address the ongoing debate about Women’s Initiative, KPU Director Will Hubbard said, “In solidarity with the outstanding programming of Women’s Initiative, I would propose that the budgets of the larger organizations bare the allocations of last year to recognize the hard work that Women’s Initiative has done over the past year.” This led to a $500 decrease in KPU’s budget for next year, which in turn was given to Women’s Initiative.
The issue of funding for class councils was also addressed during the meeting. The class council of 2012 received a $500 increase and the class council of 2013 received a $250 increase.
The final budgets for AUTO and the Special Programming Events Commission decreased from the version proposed Wednesday. AUTO’s budget fell from $11,000 to $8,500 from Wednesday to Sunday because questions were raised as to whether AUTO needed such a large budget.
Dalton said during the debate that the Budget Committee foresees that AUTO will grow in the future and wanted to encourage growth through financial support.
“The original allocation came with the belief that AUTO needed to purchase a new van,” said Taylor Yeates, programming director of AUTO.
But AUTO is set up so that its funds can roll over to the next year, according to Yeates. There are actually funds of about $20,000 available for next year, he said.
Additionally, the Special Programming Events Commission’s budget — previously known as Eagle Nights — increase fell from Wednesday’s proposal because it is able to incorporate re-allocated SG money later in the year, said Adam Daniel-Wayman, senator-at-large. This allowed more money to go to other organizations such as Women’s Initiative.
The revisions of the 2010-2011 SG budget were achieved through long hours of debate.
“The Budget Committee takes everyone’s voice into account, and it’s a detriment when people come into it with closed minds and decisions already made,” Dalton said. “I think the students benefit if we have strong opinions and open minds.”
You can reach this staff writer at amooney@theeagleonline.com.
