Author: Alexa Damis-Wulff
The Senate passed the budget for the 2007-2008 academic year on October 2. The budget was passed with 10 votes of support as the Senate worked through three remaining budget issues before voting: a Residence Association funding request, cultural graduations funding and the allocation of an operating surplus.
Junior Class Senators Mike Myers and Patrick McCredie said they had determined to fund $3,000 of the $5,400 that the Resident Advisor’s requested. The amount will be subject to normal funding guidelines and accessed on a first-come, first-served basis. The Senators acknowledged the ambiguity surrounding the need for more RA funding. McCredie said some RA’s active in programs could always use more funding, while Campus Wide Senator Rob Calderon (junior) recalled a conversation with Director of Residence Life and Housing Services Kecia Baker in which she said RA funding was unnecessary. Myers and McCredie described the partial funding as a compromise that marks the beginning of a general phasing out of RA funding from the Senate.
Funding for cultural graduations was one of the issues which stalled the Senate from passing the budget the week before. The Senators had previously expressed interest in setting aside funds for these events so the organizers did not have to apply for funding. Senator Myers noted that the Senate had never funded an annual event in this manner, and recommended a funding cap of $7,500 for these graduations with continuing dialogue with organizers to explore other avenues of funding. The Senate was almost in unanimous agreement about the importance of funding the graduations. One Senator commented on the absurdity of not funding such endeavors with the College running in surplus as it has for some years now.
The Senate meeting ended by allocating a surplus from the Senate’s operational training fund, deciding to move $5,990 to the ASOC Discretionary Fund.
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