ASG Senate Recap

Student leaders resolve spring club funding requestsKimi AndrewAssociate ReporterMay 4, 2017Flexing its financial muscles, the Associated Student Government allocated a total of $13,881 to five registered student organizations (RSOs) at the April 27 Senate meeting.Student Activities Committee Chairman Karsten Andersen presented the proposed allocations for club funding after a week of deliberation. At the April 20 meeting, five RSOs presented requested funding for events to be held during spring quarter.According to Andersen, the money ASG allocates to clubs comes from the Santa Clara Fund and the Student Affairs Committee (SAC) budget. The total budget for completing clubs’ funding requests is around $78,000 and is distributed throughout the school year.The clubs appealed for funding at ASG’s Week 3 meeting. SAC considered the appeals at their committee meeting and came up with their own recommendations for funding. ASG senators voted on and approved the SAC recommendations at the Week 4 meeting.Ka Mana`o O Hawai`i requested $4,764 for their annual luau, and will receive $2,751. Barkada asked for $6,000 for their Pilipino Culture Night and will be given $5,000.TEDxSanta Clara requested $3,225 for their upcoming TED Talk event, and will be given $2,160. Igwebuike petitioned to receive $3,338 for their spring retreat, and will receive $2,500. SCU Hipnotik requested $1,671 for an upcoming dance competition in Las Vegas, and will be given $1,470.ASG senators also continued deliberations on whether or not to approve the Honors Advisory Council’s (HAC) request to become an official RSO.At the Week 3 meeting, a vote to approve HAC was tabled so that senators could ask HAC members why they were seeking RSO status, despite already receiving funding from the University Honors Program.Collin Baker, a representative from HAC, told the Senate via email that their three main reasons for seeking RSO status are so they can petition for more funding, gain further access to the on-campus room-booking service and obtain further permission to promote events on campus.Multiple senators expressed concern over HAC already receiving similar benefits as part of the Honors Program, and did not see why they needed to have RSO status. “The honors department is not that big. The director is pretty easily accessible all the time,” said Sophomore Senator Sam Perez. “I feel like if they just really communicated well with their board and used resources appropriately, this could be fixed.”After much deliberation, the ASG senators denied HAC official RSO status.Mitchell McCaffrey, a sophomore finance major, was also sworn in as ASG’s newest Sophomore class senator. Mitchell McCaffrey, a sophomore finance major, was also sworn in as ASG’s newest Sophomore class senator. ASG Senate will meet again on May 4 at 7 p.m.Contact Kimi Andrew at kandrew@scu. edu.