In conjunction with it’s last meeting in which student club and organization budgets were allocated, the United Student Government (USG) spent the majority of it’s meeting discussing appeals and reallocating funds Monday afternoon.
Eight clubs requested appeals to their budgets, ranging from an additional $25 for “All Things Horror’s Are You Afraid of the Dark” Sleepover event, which would be used for a s’mores bar to $460 for the Student Veterans Association’s speaker event.
The Student Veterans Association originally received $25, but requested an additional $460 for a second function, the Veterans Association’s speaker event. This money would be divided among the cost of the speaker, catering and advertisement. Referring back to past decisions on funding advertisements, the legislative body amended the requested appeal of $60 for posters, flyers, hot cards, and digital signage down to $25. This would bring their overall budget, including the original $25 they were allocated, to $450.
All Things Horror, the Black Student Union and the Honors Student Organization all had appeals for the transportation portion of their event budgets for shuttles, which included driver fees and mileage. All three clubs received full funding on these appeals.
At the budget meeting last week, the Society for Intelligence and National Security (SINS) received the largest budget of $3,000 for the Gathering. At this meeting, SINS requested $94 for their Silent Auction Event, which was approved, making their total budget allowance $3,094.
“We had $24,375 for this funding period alone. You guys allocated $15,194 during Monday’s funding meeting,” Treasurer Amber Mole said to the legislative body when asked how much money remained in the budget.
Mole went to explain that before appeals were discussed, $9,181 remained in the budget that could potentially be distributed.
Following appeals, left in the overall budget is $2,081, which does not include unused money from last funding period, which will roll back into this funding period. At the end of this funding period, however, all unused funds will be placed into the spring semester’s overall budget.
Going back to the Condom Initiative, which is in its final stages, members of the Communication Committee brought the idea of having either the USG name and/or logo to be included to the legislative body. This inclusion would be in marketing or in sign form whenever the condoms would be in the form of a “Brought to you by USG” sign.
When a member of the legislative body voiced concerns over whether or not USG was truly responsible for this, Dean Michael Gieseke spoke to the importance USG has played in the availability of condoms to students on campus.
“The university believes that USG sponsored this [the Condom Initiative],” Dean Gieseke said. “This was a student driven-initiative…this is truly believed to have come from a student.”
Senator Jake Berlin presented student concerns regarding cleanliness around campus, including issues surrounding garbage build up and dirty keyboards.
“When asked on a scale of 1-10 of how students feel the uni is kept in regard to cleanliness, most students rate below a five,” Berlin said.
After discussion revolving the actions that can take place, it was decided the next steps will be addressed in meetings in the future.
