Author: Soo Jin Kim
On Tuesday, Sept. 29, the Associate Students of Occidental College (ASOC) Senate met to discuss the allocation of funds to clubs that requested money and later budgeting, a recurring issue at the Senate over the past few weeks.
During the allocation of funds to clubs, the ASOC Senate discussed the importance of regarding the algorithm as a guideline, rather than a rule. “Remember the algorithm is a recommendation, not the work of God,” said ASOC President Andrew DeBlock (senior).
Senate Finance Chair Aliza Goldsmith (sophomore) agreed, adding, “[The allocation of the amount of funds is] totally up to us, you could make it zero [dollars] if you wanted to.”
Campus Wide Senator David LaPorte (senior) provided an update on his personal project, which involves reevaluating the New York Times subscriptions and working to provide Wii game consoles for students to use in residence halls. Forty copies of the New York Times are currently delivered to the college Monday through Friday. Students can find daily editions of the paper in front of the main entrance to the Cooler. LaPorte appraised whether the number of subscriptions Oxy has been receiving is appropriate for the number of students who read the paper. The Senate decided to increase the number of subscriptions to the New York Times from 40 to 55.
For the second part of his project, LaPorte oversaw the ordering of new Wii consoles for students to use on campus. Every residence hall will be provided with one system, a remote and Wii Sports, the basic game that comes with the Wii. The Wiis will be put inside an acrylic case made especially by Facilities to ensure that they will not be stolen or damaged. The cases come with locks that only the Residence Advisors (RAs) can unlock, so students will first have to gain the permission of the RAs to play. Additional Wiis will be provided by the SAC that students can check out to play.
A fund was started last year to pay for such purchases, so that more Wii remotes and games can be bought in the future. “One Wii is the basic purchase and we can always come back and add more,” said LaPorte in an interview after the meeting. “RAs can also take a vote during hall spread to see what games students want.”
Next, DeBlock presented the budget review for the academic year. The ASOC currently funds a variety of groups including student media, student services and the salaries of permanent ASOC employees. The permanent employees that the ASOC pays include ASOC Finance Advisor Gabriela Niculescu and ASOC Advisor Tamara Rice. The Constitution of the ASOC explicitly states that the amount paid to the employees of ASOC should be enough to ensure their livelihood and that salaries not be dependent on the whims of the ASOC Senators.
A guideline was passed in 2005 by then-President of the college Ted Mitchell, to ensure that a certain amount of the ASOC funds were being spent where needed. After funds were first given to student media and the permanent employees, the guideline states that student services should receive 65 percent; club funds should receive 30 percent; the access fund, money reserved to pay the salaries of Senators, should receive 1.5 percent; other expenses would be allocated 3.5 percent; and the mandatory reserve should receive 2.55 percent of the funds left over. The mandatory reserve is a set amount of money that the ASOC cannot touch, unless there is a dire need to do so. The reserve acts like a “cushion” – if the ASOC spends more than the amount of money it is given at the beginning of the year, it can potentially turn to the Mandatory Reserve to stay out of debt.
Currently, the ASOC income totals $611,390, with $204,489 being spent on student media and permanent positions. Out of the $406,901 left over, 56.6 percent ($230,255) is spent on student services, 29.8 percent ($121,110) is spent on club funds, 2.7 percent ($11,000) is spent on the access fund, 10.7 percent ($43,536) is spent on other expenses and 3.8 percent ($15,300) is spent from the mandatory reserve. This leads to a deficit – the ASOC Senate is already spending 102.55 percent of the $406,901 that was to be allocated. “The ASOC is currently asked to spend more money than they have,” said DeBlock, “and it’s putting them in a dangerous position.”
DeBlock is interested in finding a solution to the overextension of ASOC funds and setting up a concrete budget to ensure that the future ASOC Senate cannot change the funding amount of student services on a whim. He came up with two options: first, to amend the Constitution, and second, to remove money from the current access fund. This would involve the removal of $4,896.52 from the access fund and place $1,000 towards the mandatory reserve and $3,896.52 toward operating expenses, Honor Board, General Assembly (GA), Beautification Fund and the Leadership Fund.
“We need an operational budget. Instead of questioning it in the past, they have walked over it if they don’t like it,” said DeBlock when asked about finding solutions to the problems and setting a budget for the ASOC fund. “It’s going to be troubling for students in the future if we don’t do this.”
Some of the Senators agreed to meet DeBlock outside of the ASOC Senate meeting to discuss the situation and potential solutions in greater detail. The ASOC Senate decided to hold an election during the GA to try and amend the Constitution. The ASOC Senate will need at least a 25 percent student body vote to make its proposition pass. The ASOC plans to publicize the election to have as many students vote as possible. Rice warned the Senate of future hardships. “Be careful about this, because it can be harder than you think,” she said.
Tied to the possible solution of running the amendment of the Constitution through the GA, the ASOC Senate discussed the necessity to elect co-chairs for the GA. The co-chairs were supposed to have been elected by the end of last year, but since no one applied or re-applied, the positions are still vacant. The ASOC will hold special elections later this semester instead of appointing co-chairs. The choice to hold special elections was made because the GA has a large role in checking the ASOC and holding them accountable to their actions.
The election for GA co-chairs will be on Monday, Oct. 12. Petitions for the positions are available in the Office of Student Life and are due by Thursday, Oct. 8 at 5 p.m..
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