Seriousness is usually a pillar for the ASUO Programs Finance Committee, but during Tuesday’s budget meeting, humor found its way in.
“You try to play footsie with me at every meeting!” Mike Martell joked with his associate, Mike Sherman, as they fought for foot space under the table.
While the laughter and jokes of PFC members permeated the room during breaks, PFC chairwoman Kate Shull took charge, and managed to bring a more serious note to the meeting in the EMU.
The clear victor of the night was the Asian Pacific American Law Students Association, which received a 68.21 percent increase, for a total of $2,439. While it was a far cry from the original recommendation from the ASUO Executive — which suggested a budget of $3,212, a 121.2 percent increase — APALSA seemed happy with the decision.
Another group that came out victorious was the Black Women of Achievement. BWA received a total of $4,823, a 26.62 percent increase from last year’s budget.
PFC, keeping on track with the agenda, continued in a fast-paced manner, trying to make the process an easy and fast one.
“We’re actually on time for once,” PFC senator seat No. 2 Alex Dietrich said after observing he had enough time to eat cookies in between each group’s presentation.
A snag was hit, however, when the Chinese Student Association entered the room.
CSA, having an incredibly large turnout — everyone in the club attended the meeting — came with high expectations. The anticipation soon turned to frustration when the ASUO Executive recommended a budget that, while an increase over last year’s, was not as much as the group had hoped for.
The ASUO Executive’s advised budget for CSA was $8,444, a 35.15 percent increase over last year’s budget. PFC, reluctant to give such a large increase to CSA, given its problems with rollovers in the past, whittled the request down to $7,048 — only a 12.8 percent increase. But that proposal failed, and once again, PFC frantically looked for ways to cut down CSA’s budget while still giving it some of the requested money.
After an hour of rallying back and forth, PFC made a final motion that passed 5-1-1 for a budget that came to $6,778, an 8.48 percent increase over last year’s budget. A disappointed CSA shuffled out of the room, with an open invitation to attend future budget meetings to satisfy any curiosity over possible discrimination.
Conversely, one group walked away from the budget hearing with not only an increase in its funding, but with the praises of PFC as well.
“They were a very, very good group to work with,” Shull said about the Chinese Students and Scholars Association.
CSSA received a total of $3,022, a 17.54 percent increase over last year’s budget. While there was some confusion over the group spending money on transportation for a ski trip, the general tone of PFC was complimentary.
“This group is very good with spending their money,” Dietrich said.
The Literary Society exited its budget hearing with $5,709, a 5.86 percent increase.
There were three groups that left the budget meeting with a decrease in funds, one of which was the Chess Club. It received only $179, a sharp decline of 40.33 percent from last year. While PFC sympathized with the Chess Club’s efforts to buy more chess boards as well as tournament clocks, previous spending factored into PFC’s decision.
The Black Law Students Association left with a total of $1,105, a 5.47 percent decrease. The Gaming Club departed from the meeting with a 16.53 percent decrease — PFC allocated $313 to the club.
Ali Shaughnessy is a freelance writer for the Emerald.