ETSU’s Student Government Association held its first BUC Fund session of the spring semester on Tuesday, putting the total of student funding at $5,887 for the remainder of the semester.
Due to inclement weather and adjusting to new senators and committee arrangements, the BUC Fund process became complicated the past few weeks.
Sen. Sam Arnold was previously appointed to replace Sen. Garrett Parks as chair of BUC Fund but declined the position.
Parliamentarian Nathan Farnor, who was formerly the vice chair, received the chair position, with Sen. Emily Marmon serving as vice chair.
The BUC Fund committee took a more conservative stance with funding this meeting, given that several organizations were awarded half of the requested amount or received no funding at all.
The applications for this meeting consisted of the following requests: Public Health Student Association for $2,000 of $4,900, Alpha Sigma Lambda for $350, International Student Association for $4,900, Feminist Majority for $0 of $1,172.26, Pi Kappa Alpha for $0 of $1,000, Phi Sigma Pi for $0 of $450, East Tennessean for $2,680, Student Photography Association for $0 of $1,500, Hispanic American Student Community Alliance for $3,300, Alpha Delta Pi for $3,720, Office of Multicultural Affairs for $3,400 of $6,800 and Orthodox Christian Fellowship for $0 of $1,200.
Sen. Victoria McCullah, a member of Alpha Delta Pi, requested the application for her sorority’s application to be pulled and inquired why the committee suggested $0 for the organization when other Greek organizations received funding in the past for similar events.
“The application and meeting with them were great, and we have funded similar events in the past,” Farnor said. “However, a comment was made along the lines that this would be upward mobility for the organization and more internal.”
President Pro-Tempore Brandon Johnson argued with the statements, saying that Greek organizations contribute to many things on campus due to their heavy involvement.
“The application wasn’t the same kind of thing we had received in the passed—it seemed like this event was only a means to help the sorority and not the campus as a whole,” Sen. Tori Neal said.
Alpha Delta Pi was awarded the full amount requested after a simple majority vote.
The current balance for BUC Fund is $5,101 for off campus events and $5,887 for on campus events, which puts applicants for spring events in a financial bind.
“If we don’t have the money after the next meeting, we might not do a third and final BUC Fund meeting,” Farnor said. “However, if we do decide to have a meeting, we will have to pull from next year’s funds.”
