606 funding was once again a hot topic of the SGA meeting Tuesday.
The Senate received six applications for 606 funding. Four of these groups received funding. They were the ETSU Photography Association, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, International Students Organization and the Survey Club.
Two groups that applied did not receive funding. One was the History Society. The group did not have a representative at the 606 Committee meeting or at the SGA meeting Tuesday.
The other application that did not receive funding was an art exhibitionist. The meeting was closed in order to discuss this application. The exhibitionist did not receive funding because this was the second time that this event had gone through the 606 funding process and therefore it could not receive funding a second time.
The allocation of 606 funding was also a source of controversy. Sen. Kobelah Bennah argued that the SGA has a surplus of money and should therefore distribute more of it to the groups that apply for funding.
Sen. Brian McCormack said that a surplus is not a bad thing. “We have to be consistent,” he said.
Much of this discussion took place during the discussion of funding for specific groups. Vice President Aaron Caton tried to keep the Senate focused on the topic at hand.
“If you want to change the process, do it Thursday,” he said, referring to a special session SGA meeting that was called in order to work on fixing the 606 funding process by the Student Court’s order.
Dr. Sally Lee, SGA advisor, passed out grade release forms to the senate, cabinet and executive officers.
These forms give Lee permission to check SGA students’ cumulative GPAs. SGA members must maintain a minimum 2.0 GPA.
Lee said that she would only release grades to the Senate Review Committee if a student’s GPA was an issue. Refusal to sign the release form would result in the person being ineligible to hold a position in the SGA.
SGA was faced with yet another conflict.
According to the SGA Code of Laws, all senators must sit on two committees. Most committees have a maximum of eight senators allowed. The SGA 606 funding committee allows for nine members while the Senate Review committee only allows five members. This totals 62 seats.
However, after new senators were sworn in, there must be 64 available seats.
Attorney General Jarrod Suits told the Senate that they had no options at this point. If they appoint more people than allowed, they will be breaking the law. If they do not appoint senators to two committees, they will be breaking the law.
“Keep in mind, I don’t recommend breaking the law,” Suits said.
Caton urged the senators to come up with another solution. He encouraged them to write legislation that will fix this current problem with the SGA Code of Laws and solve the problem of what to do.
“I want to get this done,” Caton said.
Lee told the Senate that they should join together and write a piece of legislation on the issue. She said that it is a better piece of legislation if there are two or three people grouped together.
McCormack expressed frustration over the meeting being closed.
He said students had a right to know what to know what the SGA is doing and Caton agreed.

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