The Student Association unanimously passed the 2010-2011 initial allocations bill Tuesday night with no debate.
The bill will dole out $501, 995 to 270 student organizations, an increase of about $120,000 from last year.
“We organized the bill in a fair fashion and I really think the Senate and organizations recognized this,” Sen. Chris Clark, U-At large and chair of the SA Finance Committee, said.
During the meeting, Sen. Travis Holler, ESIA-U announced that the SA has $930,457 to allocate to student organizations, not the estimated $1.2 million announced earlier this year.
“The numbers given to us by the Student Activities Center had not been checked up by the budget office and the former Vice President of the FA,” Holler said. “No one went about the right way in checking it out.”
After spending nearly 80 hours looking over budgets and hearing appeals, Clark said he was happy with how respectful the Senate was when voting on the bill.
Sam Free, a representative from the Racially and Ethnically Mixed Student Association, was the only person to appeal at the meeting. REMIX initially asked for $1500, but was given $550, a $50 increase from last year.
Sen. Travis Holler, ESIA-U, vice-chair of the finance committee, offered that the $550 was enough for basic office supplies, promising that the SA is more than happy to help with co-sponsorships throughout the year.
“We have officers this year that will be on top of their things and are going to do their job in a timely, efficient manner,” Clark said, explaining that the co-sponsorship process will run more smoothly this year. “We will not have problems with it this year.”
“Clark brought a lot to the table and really fought for what was fair,” Sen. Tom Fogarty, SMHS-G, said. “Tonight was a victory for student organizations.”
