The Student Government Association upheld a presidential veto on Tuesday in an act that cut funding for one student organization by one-fourth.
The turnaround occurred last week, when SGA President Jarred Suits vetoed Student Activity (606) funding for Students in Support of Tennessee Intercollegiate State Legislature (SSTISL or TISL) – less than 24 hours after the SGA voted unanimously to give $3,000 to the group to attend a political leadership seminar
After some tension and much debate on Tuesday, the SGA chose not to override Suits’ veto. The group compromised, however, by allocating $2,250 to TISL – $750 less than originally proposed.
Suits said the veto was not an attempt to deny funding to TISL, but an attempt to reduce 606 spending, which is raised through student activity fees.
“Most 606 funding applications are limited to $2,250 -that’s the maximum most groups can receive,” said Suits.
“But in certain cases, the SGA can practice something called ‘exceptional benefit’ where they can give more to certain groups if they think it’s a good idea. Last week, they voted to give more money to TISL, but I don’t think exceptional benefit applies in this case.”
Precedence, Suits argued, dictated that exceptional benefit only applied when a student group was using the money to directly impact the student population.
He used the example of bringing a highly visible speaker to campus.
“I think because [TISL’s application] is for an off-campus trip, it doesn’t directly affect students.”
Elizabeth Johnston, president of TISL, disagreed with Suits.
“There’s nothing in the [SGA] constitution that says anything like what [Suits] said. He went off of precedence alone,” she said in a phone interview Tuesday evening.
Johnston also argued that TISL does have a direct impact on ETSU students.

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