The ASUO Senate allocated more than $21,000 from surplus funds at last week’s meeting, including $16,000 for a three-day powwow put on by the Native American Student Union.
The 40th annual Mother’s Day event will take place May 9 through 11 and will include performances by the Grammy award-winning Black Lodge Singers.
Sen. Dan Feldman told the Emerald the powwow was “the epitome of the type of event we want to spend surplus on.”
Sen. Billy Hatch gave updates throughout the meeting of how much money would be left in the Senate’s surplus account, which rolls over from year to year and includes moneys unspent by student groups and contracted services.
The Senate granted each request with little dissent and ended the meeting with about $47,000 left in its coffers.

But Feldman said senators should not decide whether to approve spending based on how much money will be left in the account.
“It would be unfair to deny a group funding at this point just because they came later in the year,” he said. The powwow request was large enough to normally “raise red flags,” Feldman said, but the group’s presentation persuaded him the event was worth the money.
“It’s free for students, it’s open to all students, it’s three days long, it’s culturally relevant,” he said. “It meets all the criteria.”
NASU requested $8,000 for the event last year, but representatives of the group said the cost will not increase again. Last year’s powwow was a one day event and the group has increased its fundraising.
Another surplus request received more scrutiny. The Clark Honors College Student Association, ASUO-recognized but not funded with any student fees, was allocated $730 to take a group of honors college students to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland.
Sen. Nate Gulley raised concerns that the event was open only to honors college students. Representatives of the association said they already had more requests to attend the festival than available seats on the bus, so they wouldn’t be able to invite other students. Gulley voted in favor of the request, but Sen. Kevin Parks voted against it.
Other allocations included $1,600 to the Assault Prevention Shuttle to buy gasoline. Representatives from APS came to Senate asking for these funds earlier in the academic year, but they were told to wait until they actually needed to purchase the gas. This time they came back $200 in debt and Senate granted the request.
The Women’s Center received two allocations. One was for student employee pay ($427, Sen. Sean Jin voted nay) and the other for classified employee pay ($2,174, no nays).
The International Student Association received $800 for International Night. Sen. Lee Warnecke voted against the request because he said he was not sure if the group would receive more fundraising before the event.