Student Government Association is asking student organizations to consider budgets when requesting funding.
When student organizations requests funding from SGA, the appropriations committee processes the requests before Senate hears them. The committee looks at certain details such as amount requested, what the money will be used for and the organization’s fundraising efforts.
“My committee has taken committed steps to creating budgets for each of these types of bills in relation to the larger budget we are given to make sure we track our spending as accurately as possible,” said Taylor Brown, chairwoman of the Student Senate appropriations committee.
The committee looks for efforts of fundraising in case Senate is unable to fully fund the request.
“The effort to fundraise before coming to Senate shows respect for SGA and responsibility on the part of Senate as well as the organization,” Brown said. “This is especially true when organizations ask for large sums of money.”
Student Accounting Society requested $1,500 at the Jan. 20 Student Senate meeting to host an event with alumni at Dave and Buster’s, 5501 N. May Ave., a venue with arcade games, food and alcohol. The bill failed and no money was awarded.
“We host the event every year to network with alumni,” said Karina Salazar, accounting senior and SAS president. “Conversations at this event have lead to students landing interviews.”
SAS received funding from SGA in the past for this event Salazar said.
SAS is exploring fundraising options to host an event at Dave and Busters.
“I don’t want this tradition to die,” Salazar said.
Senators raised questions about funding an event for alumni.
We felt the bill fell out of the range of Senate funding responsibility, Brown said.
Student Accounting Society did no fundraising before requesting funds from Senate. The lack of fundraising was taken into consideration when rejecting SAS’s request, senators said.
“We weren’t rejecting the idea of a SAS networking event,” said SGA president Chance Johnson. “We don’t want to create the perception we don’t hand out funds to organizations.”
Salazar said SAS plans to resubmit a bill requesting a lesser amount to SGA.
The next Student Senate meeting is at 8 p.m. Feb. 10 in the Great Hall in Tom and Brenda McDaniel University Center.
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