After only two ASUO Summer Senate meetings, the student government body finds itself on the verge of drying up its surplus.
Friday afternoon was a fairly straight-forward meeting, with Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority getting their fair share of the remaining $4,811 in surplus. The real problem came during ASUO Executive’s special request when they asked for their conference funding to be increased by $600, moving their total to $3,280. This money would be used to send 11 people to a United States Student Association conference in Wisconsin.
If the senate moved to pass this request, the surplus for the entire summer would be gone.
Chief of Staff Jena Langham@@checked@@ presented the special request but was frustrated with the lack of information given to her, calling the situation a “debacle.”
Members of the former executive, current executive and Multicultural Center planned to make this trip together in order to reduce costs. Part of this included renting an eight-person van to drive there instead of each taking separate flights.@@that is a long damn ride@@ Yet, somewhere in the process of reserving hotel rooms, only one room was held when three were needed.
This lead to the $600 increase, which was also the only part of the funding they could do anything with during the meeting. Six plane tickets had already been purchased by those from the former executive before the current executive was elected and thus were a permanent part of the budget.
While most of the senators thought the USSA conference was a good use of the money being requested, they were also very wary about running out of funds.
“I am more in favor of it than not,” Summer Senate President Matthew Miyamoto@@checked@@ said. “The only thing holding me up is that we’d be exhausting a surplus. But, I do think it’s a worthy request.”
Sen. Lindy Mabuya@@checked@@ was also concerned about using the rest of surplus so early on.
“I understand what happened, but I also understand that we have 13 weeks (left),” Mabuya said.
After much discussion, Sen. Ian Needham@@checked@@ tried to find a compromise but was disappointed with the lack of options the senate had.
If the senate passed the motion, the surplus fund would be empty, and any special requests happening during the summer months would have to be denied. Yet, if the senate failed the motion, only the members of the past executive would be able to attend the conference, and the members who had fronted the money to purchase plane tickets would have to front their own expenses.
Needham mentioned leaving some of the 11 members behind, but Langham argued that each member was vital due to the USSA’s diversity clause, which mandates that each group must have a certain number of people from a diverse set of backgrounds.
It was an all-or-nothing situation.
After some silence, Langham assured the senate that if the additional $600 was granted, the ASUO executive would go over their budget in the next week and return any extra money to senate if additional funds were found.@@shit…do thatbefore you give the money@@
Still, Mabuya suggested and ultimately passed a motion to table the discussion until the following Wednesday — an extra meeting created purely to finish this request — saying, “We are supposed to meet as needed.”
This would allow the executive time to go over their budget to find any potential places to cut back on funds without being given the $600.@@yep@@ When they come back with a new proposal, the senate will have good faith that is they have exhausted their options.