The weekend began earlier than expected for Programs Finance Committee members the night of Jan. 14.
The meeting ended an hour and a half earlier than scheduled. The budget hearings ran punctually, beginning with the Minority Law Student Association. PFC member Jael Anker-Lagos questioned the group’s need for a stipend position.
“Right now I feel that if we gave the stipend position, it would be paying someone to fund-raise, which I don’t agree with,” Anker-Lagos.
MLSA argued if it had more money in its programming funds, the stipend recipient would not have to spend so much time fundraising and instead could do more programming and community outreach. The group also argued that it is hard to find students to raise funds without pay.
“Stipend positions are not a form of compensation or for just being a leader. A leader should want to be a leader,” PFC Chair Persis Pohowalla said in a point of clarification.
MLSA emphasized the growing number of minorities in the law school, saying that provides a reason for an increased budget.
ASUO Controller Carie Henderson noted that the previous year’s budget was not completely spent.
“If you all are trying to expand, why is there money left over in the budget?” Henderson asked.
MLSA explained the money was initially granted as a scholarship to a student, but it was given back because the student no longer had the financial need.
PFC member Mason Quiroz explained how budgets are assessed.
“Unfortunately, when you’re in a system that has certain parameters and rules that you have to follow, the previous poor spending is an important factor, and we have to look at it,” he said. “I would much rather see the money in programming than in stipends.”
Other PFC members agreed and passed a budget of $1,515, an 8.2 percent decrease from last year.
The Latino/a Law Student Association, which had some of the same MLSA representatives, went next. No stipend explanation was necessary, and a budget was passed of $934, a 247 percent increase. The vast increase was made to help send students to the Hispanic National Bar Association Conference this year.
MEChA’s budget proposal saw some unexpected changes. A position was added for a design coordinator, but its Multicultural Center representative position was eliminated.
“I think the position of the design coordinator is more important and effective than the MCC representative,” PFC member Khanh Le said.
The executive recommendation called for a 0.6 percent decrease. PFC members discussed whether that was appropriate for a group that had excellent spending last year.
“They had great budget spending last year, so we should at least fully fund their programming,” Quiroz said.
With that, PFC passed a budget of $20,459, a 0.9 percent increase from last year.
Disability Services received a budget of $11,150, the same funds allotted as last year.
The Nontraditional Student Union asked for a budget that “reflects our true needs.” NSU said there are a growing number of non-traditional students on campus and the group has grown beyond what its budget can handle. PFC said because of NSU’s lack of fundraising, it could only pass a budget of $5,478, an 8.1 percent increase.

Jordan Thierry is a freelance reporter for the Emerald.