By Hannah Gray
With a tight budget this semester, ASUP scrambled to find proper funding for clubs and organizations for next school year.
"Because of the endowment, this should be the poorest semester we have," said Ben Taketa, ASUP treasurer. Due to the creation of an endowment, carryover funding was eliminated from the budget. This created an even smaller budget. The endowment will go into effect the next academic year.
The small budget led to tension within the Senate. A small group of senators, in hopes of increasing the budget, looked to other options. The first idea was to spend money designated for an exigency fund. The purpose of an exigency fund is to cover unexpected bills in an emergency and is two percent of the whole budget, according Taketa.
ASUP's finance policy specifically outlaws the use of spending money within the exigency fund. The Executive Board typically doesn't intervene during Senate discussion but felt the need to intervene this time in particular, according to ASUP Vice President Allison Able.
"A lot of senators are unaware of the fund's existence and what it does," Able said. "We have seen the need for the exigency fund come up. In a sense, we were doing our job of upholding our policy."
Along with Able, Taketa spoke up. Taketa apologized for doing so, but he knew he would regret it if he didn't say anything.
"The policy is a part of our core value," Taketa said.
Another area where senators considered taking money from was from the capital improvement fund, which is 10 percent of the overall budget and is used for projects at the end of each semester.
"There is a specific method to decide what the capital improvement fund is spent on," Taketa said. Allocating money from the fund was in violation of the method.
The money from the exigency and capital improvement funds were suggested to be allocated towards Student Led Unity Garden's greenhouse and T-shirts for Recreational Services. In the end, the ideas were vetoed.
One of the senators who rallied for use of the exigency and capital improvement funds was Colin Dorwart, a sophomore class senator. Dorwart initially wanted to take money from the exigency fund and put it towards Recreational Services.
"I had requested to take money from the exigency fund and allocate a portion of it to the intramural T-shirts, leaving nearly two-thirds of the exigency fund still in place," Dorwart said. "In my opinion, and the opinion of some other senators, this was not in violation of the ASUP by-laws because it was an emergency."
The other interest Dorwart advocated for was taking money from the capital improvement fund and putting it towards SLUG's greenhouse.
"While I do support the policy, I felt as though the request for a fraction of the capital improvements fund was still not in violation of this policy," Dorwart said. "These procedures could still take place while we could still be helping a club to create a physical improvement on campus."
Dorwart thought it was not the place for the Executive Board to state their opinion.
"As Executive Board members they are not to side on an issue, as they are not voting on it," Dorwart said.
The group of senators, Dorwart included, tried to help clubs in a new way.
"A small group of senators tried to be creative, but they were in violations of our policy," said Jeromy Koffler, the Student Activities director. "The Executive Board had to hold firm of the governing documents, and I think that may have provided some extra tension."
The idea to take money away from the funds has never been considered in the past, according to Able.
"One of the reasons the senators tried to was because there was so little money and good pleading from the clubs," Able said. "I don't think in the past people have ever questioned the exigency fund."
The main issue throughout the budgeting process was T-shirts. The finance committee decided not to fund any T-shirts as a part of their standardizations.
"T-shirts were the signature issue," Koffler said. "The issue of which T-shirts to fund or any at all was the biggest issue."
One of the major topics of discussion was Recreational Services' intramural champion T-shirts. Recreational Services requested $2,500 and were originally given no funding.
"We thought it would send a message that we don't fund personal items," Taketa said. "But senators gave it to them because ultimately it benefits students."
Recreational services was finally allocated $550 for its T-shirts.
The overall budgeting process was easier because there was no carryover. In past years, ASUP forecasted the expected carryover, which was then added to the budget. This created inefficiencies. Last year, the previous administration forecasted too much carryover funding and ASUP spent outside its budget, according to Taketa.
This time around, the finance committee had only the funding from student fees to work with, which is roughly $195,000.
The finance committee created initial standardizations, such as deciding not to fund T-shirts specifically for the club. To further cut the budget, the finance committee met with members from the clubs and organizations to discover the main priorities. The committee then cut funding from the lower budget items. Then, if needed, the committee makes discretionary cuts, according to Taketa.
If club or organization members don't show up for their interviews, the committee takes that into account when creating the budget.
"If clubs don't show up, how can I expect them to spend?" Taketa said.
In addition to the interviews, the committee advises clubs to show up to the budget meetings. When clubs come to the meetings it promotes transparency in the process, according to Taketa.
The committee also takes into account the size of the club and whether or not the club fundraises or receives outside funding when creating the budget.
"It is nice to see clubs take it into their own hands," Taketa said.
In past years, the committee cut items that were not essential to clubs. This year, the committee had to cut necessary items that clubs were requesting, which is hard, according to Koffler.
