After five hours of routine hearings, the student government committee that allocates incidental fees to student groups gave more than $50,000 to six student groups on Tuesday.
The Programs Finance Committee, a branch of ASUO with six voting members, has been meeting with student organizations for the past several weeks to decide which groups qualify for funding, and to allocate money to those groups deemed eligible.
The PFC allocates incidental fees, which cost $191 per student per term.
At Tuesday’s meeting, the largest percentage budget increase was awarded to the Students of the Indian Subcontinent. The group spent more than 95 percent its funds last year, ASUO Controller Carie Henderson said. The PFC voted 4-0-1 to grant it a total budget of $8,637, an increase of 18.87 percent.
The second largest increase on Tuesday was granted to the Panhellenic Council, which serves as the coordinating body for each sorority on campus. Members of the Panhellenic Council spent 99.4 percent of their budget from last year, which led PFC members to vote 4-0-1 to approve an 11.12 percent increase for their 2006-07 budget. The group got a total of $12,488 for next year. The group puts on social issues events, governs philanthropy events and lines up guest speakers.
With the biggest group turnout of the day, about 10 members of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer Alliance showed up to support their organization’s budget proposal. Aside from requesting more money, LGBTQA officials also asked the PFC for permission to add one more stipend position into their budget, which they said would allow them to more effectively serve their more than 400 members.
LGBTQA was granted a 7.85 percent increase in its budget by a vote of 4-0-1, but the committee was unable to approve the addition of another stipend position because of conflicts with the ASUO Executive’s operational guidelines.
Before the final vote, PFC Vice Chairwoman Kristin Kato apologized to the LGBTQA for the committee’s inability to fund the new position and encouraged the group to seek alternate methods of funding.
Although the percentage increase was not very big, the largest budget approved on Tuesday went to MEChA, an organization concerned with Chicano issues on campus. PFC members voted 4-0-1 to grant MEChA a 5.19 percent budget increase, which brought its total 2006-07 budget to $19,262.
After the vote, ASUO Controller Henderson, who presented the group’s Executive funding recommendation, commended MEChA on the responsibility of the group’s proposal.
The smallest funding increase on Tuesday went to the Pre-Law Society, which saw a 2.67 percent funding increase. PFC members voted 3-1-1 to grant its increase, which brought the group’s total budget next year to $308.
The Oregon Future Lawyer’s Association, which produces the only campus law journal for undergraduates, petitioned for the only funding decrease of the day. In the final vote, the PFC voted unanimously to decrease the group’s budget by 63.89 percent. The Executive recommended decreasing the budget by 45.6 percent.
Members of the Law and Entrepreneurship Student Association opted not to attend the budget meeting, and the PFC voted 4-0-1 to defund the group, which would have received $300.
“They didn’t want to deal with all the restrictions and formalities involved with ASUO,” PFC Chairman Jared Axelrod said.
Budget hearings will conclude next week because the final PFC budget proposal is due March 1. At the end of Tuesday’s meeting,
Axelrod encouraged his staff to stay alert and stay focused for the final stretch of meetings.