Last week’s SGA meeting was marked by frustration over what some members felt was an inconsistency in voting for items on the B.U.C. Fund consent calendar.Four of the eight items on the calendar were for conferences.
Other items on the calendar included requests by the Art History Society for funding for a trip to an art museum and by the Student Ceramics Organization, which plans to bring a clay artist to campus to do a two-day exhibition and lecture.
During debate for the funding of the Art Society trip to the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, Sen. Dalton Collins said he believed that the trip was needed in order for these students to have a better experience as art students at ETSU.
“Where else would they experience art and enrich their experience here at ETSU other than going to an art museum?” Collins asked.
Sen. Zack Walden expressed concern about the number of students who would benefit from the funding.
“It is not that we do not want to enrich the experience of the students,” Walden said. “There are just other avenues to find the funding, such as fundraising or the Honors College, but B.U.C. Fund is not the appropriate place.”
Walden, who serves as the chairman of the B.U.C Fund Committee, said this funding is designed for student groups that would bring events and ideas back to the campus.
The debate centered around whether or not events should be funded based on how beneficial they are to the student body. The Senate also discussed whether they should begin funding museum trips.
“In B.U.C. Fund, we often use a trip to the museum as a primary example of things that we do not fund,” Sen. Jacob Baggett said.
The motion to fund the Art History Society’s request $150 passed with a 16-8 vote.
As the meeting progressed, SGA President Chad Hall seemed to become more frustrated, as did other members.
When the Student Association for Young Children’s request for funds to attend a conference about Southern early childhood education was discussed, Hall brought up several issues with the meeting.
“I just want to make sure that everybody is being consistent with the way that they are voting,” Hall said. “We need to be content neutral.”
While members discussed whether or not it was necessary for SAYC to take this trip, Hall said that was not the point of the vote.
“It may not be necessary for them to go, but if they are going to potentially bring something back then you need to vote for that,” Hall said. “If it has potential to strengthen their organization and if you voted for it before, I don’t understand why you wouldn’t vote for it now.”
As the meeting continued, there was a push to keep the debate centered around funding items that would benefit the university.
“Are they learning something that is going to benefit all of the student body?” Walden asked.
“If they are doing something that is only going to affect their leadership development or learn some information that only specifically affects them then I would vote zero [dollars] every single time,” he said.
The SAYC conference request was not funded by the Senate.
Another item that was a point of contention was funding for three alternative spring break trips by Community Service Programs.
These trips also were not funded, however, the debate over this request concerned the fact that the number of members and the length of the trip exceeded the limits set by the SGA’s constitution.
Attorney General Matt Brewer said the application was unconstitutional for this reason.
Vice President Ashley Bowser broke a 10-10-3 tiebreaker with a vote against funding.
Following the B.U.C. Fund portion of the meeting, Hall expressed concern about the Senate voting on an application that did not meet the SGA constitution’s requirements.
Hall said it clearly states in Title V that a six-day trip with 30 people is not allowed. “I don’t care how I feel about the trip, it is not allowed and the attorney general alluded to that and it was completely disregarded.”
Dr. Sally Lee, Associate Vice President for Student Affairs and SGA Advisor, said, “I’m very concerned with the way B.U.C. Fund is going,” Lee said. “I have an overriding concern and that is that for this year we have allocated $41,766 of a $150,000 budget.”
Lee also said that she believed that this was money that needed to be used for the students and it should be voted on in that way.
“This is the student’s money to be used for student activities and we are to fund student activities,” Lee said. “We are, in essence, hoarding the students’ money.”
Walden recently said that there have not been enough applications to fill the $75,000 for the half-year mark, and that information about the B.U.C. Fund needs to be better communicated to students.
Walden recently sent this to the East Tennessean in regard to the concerns brought up during the recent B.U.C. Fund meeting:
“To date, we received $66,090 worth of applications for the BUC Fund, excluding a $17,000 application that was not funded because of a form that was poorly filled out,” Walden said. “With that number, we have received only a little over $80,000 worth of applications.
“$66,090 is certainly less than half of $150,000, and several of those applications did not meet the requirements of B.U.C. Fund,” Walden said. “I believe that the SGA will make several attempts in the near future to better publicize the BUC Fund to Student Organizations.
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