Senate allocates $204K to clubs for next year’s activities

Senate allocated the recommended $204,503.23 to clubs during Monday’s meeting. The original amount requested from clubs on campus was $231,419.18 but the Activity Fee Board made recommendations to cut several club budgets. There were 39 club budgets that were unanimously passed without objections. A full list of allocations can be found at the end of this article. 

Senators disagreed with the cuts for the following clubs: Zeta Alpha Kappa, Eagle Dance, Pre Vet, Native American club, and Social Science club. Senator Chelsea Holt argued that Zeta Alpha Kappa’s budget should not have been cut for advertising in The Eagle.

“The Eagle is something that circulates through campus,” Senator Holt said. “So to me it would make sense to advertise through The Eagle. It’s a campus newspaper.”

Senator Adviser Deena Kennell responded by saying that AFB is not discouraging students from advertising in The Eagle, but rather suggests a consistent standard to advertise and to “be more efficient with the money allocated.”

After several questions were raised regarding the way the cuts were described, AFB Co-Chair Molly O’Connell said that AFB set a standard of feasibility in a subjective way. Kennell then urged senators to be more productive with their discussion.

After more discussion, an amendment to Zeta Alpha Kappa’s budget to add $150 for “swag” items failed 8-4 with three senators abstaining. A total budget of 3,708.50 was passed 11-1 with three senators abstaining.

The Nest’s budget was cut because the calculations that AFB made did not add up to the full $17,000 that the club requested. AFB recommended an amount of $13,000 because they did not specify where the extra $4,000 came from.

The budget for Eagle Dance was cut because AFB did not see the club growing as large as projected. The club was seeking money for new dance shoes and pants. AFB thought that the uniforms could be reused so they recommended cutting half of the budget for those items.

The Pre Vet club budget was cut by $160. The club had projected they needed five hotel rooms for a trip to Lincoln. However, the AFB found that the club could double-up on rooms and only needed four. A budget of $2,466 was passed unanimously.

The Native American club’s request for money for sweatshirts and T-shirts was cut in half. AFB allocated money to other clubs for T-shirts and found it unnecessary to have both. They recommended that if the club wanted sweatshirts, the members could pay half of the cost out of pocket.

“We are recommending that if they wanted it bad enough, they would work for it themselves,” O’Connell said.

Senator Stephanie Alfred also stated that the club receives money from local tribes. Gavan Archibald, vice president of finance, said that the club received money from the diversity committee as well.

“I totally get the concept of marketing and advertising for recruiting,” Kennell said. “But I don’t get why any club would expect that the student body pay for multiple clothing items for marketing. This kind of thing I think is crazy.”

The Native American club also did not have any fundraisers planned and asked for all the money come from Senate. Senate allocated $7,780.32 with a vote of 13-1.

Senate Adviser Susan Schaeffer then expressed concerns that senators were being too “nit-picky” when looking over budgets.

Social Science club was allocated $8,138.18 by unanimous decision.

Suggestions for improvements to AFB next year should be emailed to [email protected]. After the clubs’ allocations, Senator Tileen Sullivan reminded senators that senators select people to the AFB committee and made the challenge to senators to be a part of the board if they don’t agree with the recommendations.

Senator Curtis Stevens disagreed saying, the point of a committee is to work out the hard work and then bring its work to the larger group, whose duty still is to make sure student fee money is being used for our constituents.

Clark reiterated Stevens statements saying Senate does have an invested interest in looking at the things the subcommittee of Senate is doing and recommending.

Senate allocated $20,000 for speakers to come to campus during the 2016-17 academic year. Any unused money can be rolled over into the fall.

Senate approved a $10,000 allocation to invest in Book Ends Coffee Shop in the Reta E. King Library. A draft of Senate’s approval of the investments will be presented to the presidential council. A copy of the draft can be found on csceagle.com

No more than $2,000 was allocated to a calendar app. The total cost of the app is $6,000, with money coming from Danielle Lecher for the Week of Welcome, the NPAC’s budget, and from RLA. That money pays for a one-year contract that will have to be renewed. Chris Green, director of student affairs, student activities and recreation, added that the cost can be spread around in the future.

Senator Tate Jensen sent a letter of resignation to Senate. Jensen was absent at the meeting and according to Chief Justice Coy Clark, it was his fourth unexcused absence.

“I simply resigned because I felt I could not give enough of myself to Senate,” Jensen said. “With personal issues and a busy work schedule, I wanted to resign before they (Senate) pushed articles of impeachment again.”

Senate had $6,292.87 in unallocated funds at the beginning of the meeting. Voting for next year’s Senate will close at noon today.

An open forum to discuss themes for the Week of Welcome and to discuss improvements to the basement lounge of the Library will be at 6 p.m. today.

Adviser Mathew Brust wanted to remind students to register for fall classes and that it is not too late to add a summer course. Kennell added that it is not too late for a summer internship either.