ASOC Senate Addresses Increased Budget at Meeting

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Author: Kelsey Longmuir

On Tuesday, Sept. 15, the Associated Students of Occidental College (ASOC) Senate met to discuss the budget for the upcoming year. The eleven member Senate met in the Galarza room in the library to discuss funding requests from various campus organizations.

President Andrew DeBlock (senior) led the meeting by announcing every agenda item and counting votes He also officially opened and closed the meeting. After passing out a six-page preliminary budget for the year he said to the Senators, “Your role tonight is to make sure that you’re happy with these numbers.”

The $495,000 preliminary budget was sent to student services mid-week and the final numbers were voted on at the Senate meeting on Sept. 22. The budget, according to DeBlock, was increased from last year. “We have a lot of flexibility this year,” said DeBlock.

One of the first issues discussed were the newspapers available on campus outside the Cooler. The Senate decided to discontinue the subscription to the L.A. Times and increase the number of copies of the New York Times from 40 to 55. Sophomore Class Senator Aliza Goldsmith said, “We should increase the number [of newspapers] based on [the increased amount of] students.”

Among the funding requests for Senate dollars were requests from La Encina, KOXY and Programming Board. La Encina requested increased funding from the Senate for more staff and higher printing costs. KOXY put in a request for funds to fix broken equipment, pay for an operating license and sponsor more concerts. Programming Board requested a budgetary increase of $22,000 for extra programming.

Not all the Senators were convinced of the need for increased funding. “I think Programming Board has enough money,” Senior Senator Alex Safransky said. The Senators were also concerned with the amount of dances that Programming Board has sponsored in past years.

The Senators also discussed the possibility of funding cultural graduations. The Senate was unsure whether or not they had previously funded such organizations but Junior Class Senator Xochitl Ramos said, “I remember them coming in and making a presentation.” The Senate did not come to a consensus about funding cultural graduations at this meeting.

The ASOC Senate meets every Tuesday at 8 p.m. in the Galarza room in the library.

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