SGA budgeting week two
Clubs handle cuts with light touch
Madison Cox
Issue date: 3/12/10 Section: News
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"Every club is going to suffer in some way from budgeting," sophomore elected representative Rachel Keller said after several motions to move on resulted in little to no cutting of clubs' budgets.
The SGA constitution requires that club representatives go through phases of budgeting each year until an overall 'magic number' is reached. The magic number is the amount of money allotted for club budgets. The purpose of keeping this number secretive is to keep budgeting fair and unbiased among voters. However, budgeting can continue for multiple late-night sessions if club representatives are reluctant to make cuts to their own clubs and others.
Before the meeting officially began, the SGA executive board was treated to some pink frosted cupcakes left from the Vagina Monologues, courtesy of the Spirit Squad advisor, Donna Keely. The Spirit Squad received devastating cuts to its budget last week, losing 92% of its proposed budget in the early round of cuts.
The first phase of the night was Phase 3, self-cuts. This portion of budgeting requires club representatives to announce what he or she is willing to cut from the club's requested budget for the year. In this phase, $3941 was cut from all the clubs combined.
During Phase 3, American Women in Radio and Television cut the highest amount from its budget, totaling $700. The WWLR radio station cut $500 from its CMJ conference at New York University in October, and Lyndon Ultimate cut $500 from travel expenses.
When Phase 4 of regular cuts began, Chapin announced that because Students for Campus Conservation (SCC) and A Society of Students in Service Together (Assist) each only had one representative present, the clubs would no longer be allowed to participate in budget voting for the remainder of the meetings this year. However, the clubs are still required to have representatives attend all budgeting meetings.
WWLR suffered a $1000 cut to its budget for its CMJ conference in New York. According to representative Nick Phelan, the conference allows radio participants to meet with musicians and learn how to run a radio station more effectively.
Despite representative Karen Sague's explanation that the Anime club would use SGA money to purchase DVDs that would then be donated to the library, Brian Wilcock of the Outing club made a motion to cut $200 from its proposed budget. Dave Daley of the Twilight Players then said that the library is looking into a Netflix option, and Anime could take advantage of it in the future.
The Student Investment Group struck a nerve with the club representatives when it asked for $4000 for investment money.
"Is this legal?" Nick Phelan of WWLR said. "Taking student tuition and putting it into the stock market?"
Chris Wentworth of SIG reassured that crowd that the money is handled by an outside broker, and the club members do not touch it.
"I think it's a great idea; I'm just wary of the stock market. I think other students are as well," Suzanne Proulx of AWRT said. However, her motion to cut $2000 failed to pass.
During Phase 5, another self-cut phase, under $1000 was cut altogether.
Phase 6 began to mixed reviews, as many club representatives wished to close the meeting to avoid running late into the evening. However, a vote proved a few more people wished to continue.
The Leadership Recognition Committee lost $100 for its annual banquet, and Outside the Box had $200 cut from its guest speaker budget.
AMS was hit with a flurry of questions regarding its annual storm conference. Many club representatives wanted to know why the Meteorology department did not contribute more to the conference.
Samantha Couture explained that the department's budget is tight, and it cannot afford to help pay for more than one student to attend the conference.
"We're trying everything we can to get off the SGA money for the storm conference," AMS vice president Joe DiTommaso said. Despite concerns from the club representatives, nothing was cut from the AMS budget during this phase.
Senior elected representative Chris Shadrock motioned to cut $750 from the Twilight Players budget for technical equipment, but the motion failed.
"We aren't even allowed to use the theater until a week before the show," Nadine Grimley of Twilight said.
"Yeah, if anyone wants to take up that issue, it's with Donna Wheeler," Twilight representative Dave Daley said.
The Student Investment Group came under fire for a second time during the meeting when junior elected representative Alison Ciaramitaro motioned to cut $2000 from its investment capital budget, but Critic representative Nick Russo motioned to cut $1000 to save time and arguments. His motion passed.
While the meeting continued past 1 a.m. Thursday, the club representatives will continue meeting on Wednesday evenings until the 'magic number' can be reached.
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