A decision to give $3,000 in student fees to a law school group drew questions Wednesday from some members of the student government who asked why the group needed several thousand dollars more to attend the same convention it did last year.
In a unanimous decision by the Student Senate, the Black Law Students Association will receive $2,150 more this year to attend the 2006 Western Regional Convention, but it will send two fewer group members on the trip. BLSA President Jamila Taylor attributed the higher costs to the flight tickets to San Diego.
Last year, senators gave the group $950 for 13 BLSA members to attend the same convention in Seattle.
Two teams of four members from the University law school will compete in a mock trial competition for the first time, bringing regional and possibly national recognition to the University.
ASUO President Adam Walsh, who has the power to veto Senate decisions, would like to research the hotel accommodations and airfare options before signing off on the allocation, he said.
“I’m not really positive yet,” Walsh said. “It is significantly more than last time, but without doing some research about it I wouldn’t be able to make an educated decision.
“Obviously it is costing them more to get down there than to Seattle,” he added. ASUO Vice President Kyla
Coy said she was also hesitant about the Senate’s decision, but given the testimony of Senator Wally Hicks, the Student Senate’s graduate and law student representative, it is unlikely the ASUO Executive will veto the request.
“This is a very high-profile group in the law school that does an extremely good job,” said Hicks, who called BLSA a very hard-working group.
Last year, BLSA was given $400 for the convention, according to the ASUO Budget Book. The book shows that BLSA funds decreased by 9.6 percent from the 2004-05 fiscal year, likely a result of the more than $200 in incidental fees that went unused in 2004-05.
Senators debated both how the event will benefit the cultural and physical development of University students, a requirement for allocating extra fees, and whether too many people were going.
Taylor said as the largest student organization in the law school, BLSA gains leadership skills at the mock trials from the training and the experience itself, which will then benefit the entire student body. The convention will also address racial issues in law, she said.
“The benefit to undergraduates is indirect,” but prominent nonetheless, she said. “The leadership we develop and cultivate we then pass on to undergraduates … and we pass it on to people in the law school, who pass it on to undergraduates as well.”
Senators felt the group made an adequate fundraising effort, profiting more than $1,200 from “O Law” T-shirts and sweatshirts.
Taylor said the group made efforts to raise the rest of the money for the event by asking alumni donors, but “we ran across dead ends because the University has already hit them up.”
Also at the Senate meeting, the student group MEChA is bringing Dolores Huerta, a recognized activist and leader of the Chicano and women’s rights movements, to an annual regional conference at the University on Feb. 11 and 12.
Senators commended the group for fundraising $1,800 and unanimously approved a $2,000 request from surplus funds. All enrolled students can attend the event for free, and non-student tickets are available for $15. The group expects 300 people to attend.
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