The ASUO Senate does not have enough money to fully fund all of the spending requests before the body this week, or to send the club baseball team to national championships in Florida should the team qualify.
The Senate has just more than $30,000 in surplus at its disposal, with two meetings remaining this year, Senate Treasurer Nathan Perley said. At this week’s meeting alone, one-time spending requests from student groups total $20,869, according to documents posted on the ASUO’s Web site.
The 2009-10 Senate will also convene at least once before spring term ends and could disperse additional funds. The Summer Senate committee is authorized to spend $5,000 on one-time expenses if the full Senate doesn’t first spend all the available money.
Though it appears Senate has enough funds available to grant every request before the body this week, another request to send a Club Sports team to a national tournament could take most of the Senate’s remaining surplus funds or entice senators to dip into $10,000 of emergency reserves. Allocations to send two club teams to tournaments last week were more than $11,000 and $14,000, respectively.
ASUO President-elect Emma Kallaway seemed unfazed by the math.
“This happens to Senate at the end of every year,” she said. The Senate must evaluate each request fairly, Kallaway said, taking into account how much money a group or team has raised and what other means exist. Kallaway said she encourages co-sponsorships between groups, where one program with unspent funds can offset another group’s expenses. The ASUO Executive could offer such assistance to a program or team if necessary.
There were six requests for surplus funds posted on the ASUO Web site Sunday afternoon, ranging from $950 for the Arab Student Union to hold an Arabian Nights event, to $7,491 for the African Student Union to host African Cultural Night.
Sen. Tina Snodgrass, who acts as a liaison between the Senate and Club Sports, said she was “surprised, kind of disturbed to hear there were so many surplus requests in” when senators just discussed what requests they should expect, and anticipated needing about $10,000 and a possible request from club baseball.
Though the Programs Finance Committee each year approves $10,000 of emergency reserve funds, Perley said it should not be touched unless all other methods of raising money have been exhausted.
“If we chose to use (emergency funds), I guess we could. That’s a very sticky situation. I hope we never have to do that,” Perley said.
Perley said the Senate will find a way to allow all groups a fair shot at surplus funds, even this close to the end of the academic and fiscal year.
“We’re going to make sure we still have surplus until the end of the year while still maximizing the utility to the groups that come at the end of the year,” he said.
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ASUO struggles to disperse surplus
Daily Emerald
May 10, 2009
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