By Larry Clark
The Student Government Association started out the new semester with some significant changes to the way they fund clubs by introducing a new funding option: the supplemental budget.
This budget is designed for clubs who want to bring new ideas for activities on campus, clubs that didn’t request such funds in their base budget at the end of the previous semester. Supplemental budgeting was born out of the need to bring contingency requests back to strictly funding for an unforeseen event, such as an increase in membership.
“Now we have this supplemental club budget it’s so that clubs can have the chance to come to us, and ask for more money to put on events on campus or to put on trips that are open to campus,” said SGA Treasurer Kory Mills. “We really think that A. It will benefit the club and B. that it will benefit the campus in general.”
In addition to this major change to the senate bylaws and funding processes, the senate also granted the treasurer more power by allowing the treasurer to approve club line item changes that are under $200. After a considerable amount of debate, the senate decided to allow this power under the circumstance that the treasurer sends notice of that change.
“The only reason I was really in favor of this is because last year a lot of clubs would come up to me one day the day before an event or the day before a major trip and say, ‘Hey look, we’re sixty dollars short for our bus and we really need the money. We had an awesome event a couple weeks ago and have a hundred dollars sitting over can we just spend the sixty dollars on that instead?’ and I had to say that you have to talk to the finance committee or the e-board and they can make that decision on your own,” said Treasurer Mills. “Then they had to wait until the following Monday or try to convene all three 2-board members.”
Dr. Stephen Cohen, president of Faculty Senate, also attended the first meeting along with many other guests, to speak about the Transform 2020 initiative as presented by the the Board of Regents. He asked the Student Government Association to get involved with Transform 2020 and some of the initiatives that were set forth by the Board.
Chris Dukes, Director of Student Conduct, spoke to the senate looking for ways to improve campus climate. Duke says that, while there was an increase of students living and staying on campus, there was an issue with students under the age of 21, “My office isn’t about busting students or calling them scumbags, but about educating students and stopping students from doing one stupid thing in college and having it ruin the rest of their lives,” said Dukes.
Transportation Liaison Isamar Rodriguez briefly spoke to the success of the UPass program, which gives students a free CTTransit bus pass so long as you are in possession of your student ID. Rodriguez explains that the UPass will provide access to the new fast track transit system that seeks to connect Hartford, CCSU and New Britain.
Former SGA President and current president of the volleyball club, Brain Choplick, spoke to the Student Senate about current issues with Athletics. Choplick claimed that the department wasn’t honoring their agreement with RECentral and SA/LDD and instead caused club sports to relocate or move their pre-determined practice times, causing major inconveniences.