Programs Finance Committee Chairman Jacob Brennan said his committee would reconsider the $6,960 budget recently given to the Veterans and Family Student Association in a hearing today, but it is unclear if there will be enough votes to lower the group’s budget.
“As of last night, (recalling the group) is now supported by a majority of the body,” Brennan said Thursday afternoon.
Sen. Diego Hernandez and committee member Brandon Culbertson said they had no knowledge of the group being brought back for a second time. They would not support giving the group less money, they said.
Vice Chairwoman Mei Li Yu voted against the budget the first time, and Brennan has made it clear he wants to lower the amount. Brennan said Sen. Nick Meyers is willing to reconsider the budget. The Emerald was unable to reach Meyers for comment.
That leaves Programs Rep. Tri Vo to “most likely be the vote breaker,” according to Brennan.
Vo voted for the $6,960 budget. He declined to comment on the matter.
“I’m just going to keep it in the PFC right now,” Vo said.
Brennan said Vo is considering the issue and is still undecided.
The VFSA is a new group on campus; new groups typically receive a starting budget of $300. With money left over at the end of regular budget hearings, the PFC had decided to bring back certain groups facing special circumstances to award more money. The committee decided unanimously which groups to put on that list.
Former Sen. Steven Wilsey had calculated how much each of those groups could receive given the available funds and came up with an additional $3,000 – for a total of $3,300 – for the VFSA. The committee voted to give the veterans the full amount they were requesting.
Wilsey resigned in protest of the budget, which he said was “disrespectful” to all other student groups.
Brennan suggested the group could receive an amount closer to $3,300 in a new hearing. He said he thought it would be wrong to give the group only $300. “I know the VFSA feels they might become targeted, but I don’t think that’s going to happen at all,” he said.
Brennan addressed the Student Senate on Wednesday to support Wilsey’s decision to resign and told senators they should veto his own committee’s budget if the PFC did not reconsider the amount given to the VFSA.
Brennan said Sen. Meyers, who was responsible for guiding the VFSA through the budgeting process, contacted group members and they knew their budget would be reconsidered.
VFSA Co-Director Shane Addis was informed of the reconsideration by a reporter. He later said VFSA’s Sean Jin was told “out of courtesy” that there would be a hearing, but Jin was told the group’s attendance was not required. Addis said he will attend the hearing.
Brennan abstained from the vote the first time, so under parliamentary rules he can ask to vote on the issue again.
“I was being polite last night when I said I recommended we should recall it,” Brennan said Thursday. He said he abstained from the vote last time because he could not have changed the outcome. As chairman he has abstained from most votes.
“I made it quite clear where I stand. It was a slap in the face to the 120 programs we’d seen before,” he said.
Brennan said he was surprised by comments from Sen. Nate Gulley during Wednesday’s Senate meeting implying Brennan did not take a stand during Monday’s hearing.
“For Nate to put me on the spot and say I didn’t care, that’s B.S.,” Brennan said.
As for Gulley’s colorful vocabulary and his verbal altercation with Hernandez during Wednesday’s meeting, Brennan said he was “appalled.”
“I had no idea this Senate behaved in that manner,” he said.
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