The Student Bar Association Senate Tuesday authorized the allocation of $900 to the Labor and Employment Law Society to help 10 law students attend two labor law conferences.

The $900 allocation will cover a portion of the registration, transportation and attendance costs for the students for the conferences that will be held this weekend and in mid-November. In a voice vote, senators easily cleared the simple majority threshold needed to pass the bill.

SBA Sen. John Tuley, the chair of the senate finance committee and sponsor of the authorization bill, said there may be some concern that the ad hoc budget, used to approve funding requests after the official budget is confirmed, could run out, but the committee can address each request on a case-by-case basis.

“We did something really good for those students who are now going to be able to go to something that they may not have otherwise had the opportunity to go to and enhance their professional careers,” he said. “I hope they enjoy themselves.”

SBA Sen. Preston Eagan said the SBA should not fund this request because attending conferences was a personal choice students made and not one that benefits the whole student body.

“I just don’t think SBA should be paying for that kind of a personal choice,” he said. “It’s not like a group of speakers in school or something of that nature.”

SBA Sen. Cody Ingraham said as part of his efforts as the chair of the academic policy committee, he hopes to work with law school deans to secure funding for law students to attend conferences using University funding. He said law students may have different ways of maximizing their experience in law school, but they all want to serve their future clients.

“Some students will have dispassion towards other students interests,” he said. “Other students may not want to maximize their law school experience in the same way as others, but it shouldn’t be those dispassions and differences that serve as a barrier to other students.”

The senate also unanimously approved the distribution of $200 to cover food costs for an event that the Government Contracts Student Association will host and unanimously budgeted $50 to cover registration costs for a law student to attend a health law summit that occurred earlier this month.

The SBA Senate also unanimously confirmed Jeremy Etelson as director of academic affairs and policy, Karsten Ball as director of the faculty tenure and promotions representative committee and Gregory Orlando as director of the faculty representatives committee.

The next SBA Senate meeting will be held on Oct. 25 at 9:15 p.m. in the Law Learning Center.