The 22 students who applied for two $50 book scholarships from the ASUO Women’s Center may not have a shot at receiving that money, depending on whether student government decides it’s allowed by ASUO rules.
Student government has allowed the Women’s Center to give $50 to students in financial binds to help pay for textbooks for at least three years now, but it wasn’t until Wednesday night that the Student Senate realized the scholarships may violate student government’s constitution.
In response to the questions, the ASUO Executive branch has hatched a plan it thinks will keep the scholarship going and fit within the rules. ASUO Programs Administrator David Goward said the ASUO Executive will co-sponsor the book scholarships and give $250 from its fundraising account to keep this program going because the service is important to the Women’s Center.
The Programs Finance Committee, the committee that recommends how much of the incidental fee to give to student groups each year, gave the Women’s Center $300 for this year’s book scholarship fund.
The PFC also included the book scholarship program in next year’s Women’s Center budget.
Goward said he will either figure out how to change the ASUO Constitution to allow for the scholarships next year or request that the program not utilize the account next year and instead have the money go into the Senate’s surplus fund.
Senators who serve on the PFC said they remembered discussing the allocation for the scholarships but couldn’t recall any talk of the legality of using the incidental fee for the benefit of individual students.
All students paid $191 per student per term this year for the incidental fee. The fee is supposed to be allocated in a manner that benefits all fee-paying students, for events, guest speakers and other campus activities. Also, the fees are supported to “provide for the ‘cultural and physical development’ of students,” according to the fee guidelines. According to the University Office of the Registrar, 17,034 students are currently paying the incidental fee.
Senators passed a motion allowing the Women’s Center to use any additional money from the book scholarships account, but it was determined at the meeting that Goward is the only person with the authority to freeze programs’ budgets, or portions of them. Women’s Center Interim Director Brandy Ota confirmed that the PFC and Student Senate have not only been allocating this money for years now, but they’ve already allowed several allocations from this fund this year.
ASUO accountant Lynn Giordano recently told the Women’s Center that its use of the incidental fee for individuals will have to be reviewed by the Student Senate because of a rule that limits gifts to $25 and allows them only to be “given in appreciation of assistance in fulfilling a program’s mission and goals.”
Although the University Bookstore is an exception to the rule, it states in the Green Tape Notebook, the rules and guidelines manual for student government, that incidental fees may not benefit any one individual or group. The scholarships are for both the University Bookstore and Mother Kali’s Bookstore.
Several senators said the definition of a gift wasn’t clear, and that because these scholarships help individuals rather than a group and the selection process gives preference to nontraditional students, the scholarships are unconstitutional.
Not everyone agreed.
Flipping through pages of the Green Tape Notebook, several senators read various clauses – rules that advocate for this kind of allocation and others that prohibit it.
“Should the incidental fee be used to benefit students on this campus? Yes!” said Senator Richard Malena, who thought that scholarships don’t fit into the definition of a gift or charitable cause.
“The Green Tape Notebook doesn’t make a case for taking money from some students and giving it to others,” argued Senator Dallas Brown, who thought the prohibition of “charitable cause” was clearly defined.
The Green Tape Notebook states, “at no time may incidental fee monies be donated to a charitable cause.”
All students have to benefit from the money, Brown said.
Brown said there were other avenues for this sort of allocation, such as community donations, but he also encouraged someone on campus to file a grievance to ensure that the scholarships stop permanently.
Senator Kyle McKenzie said he couldn’t see how a scholarship relates to a gift, and voted for the $50 scholarships.
The Student Senate isn’t sure what step will follow, but the issue will either go to the ASUO Constitution Court or the Student Senate Rules Committee for further review.
The Emerald has requested that the Constitution Court define the $50 book scholarship.

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