SA: Resolution 3: Changes to the SAFC Guidelines

Sponsored by: Roneal Desai ‘13, Matthew Gruber ‘13, Brandon Coulter ‘13, Cameron Pritchett ‘15

Whereas, the Student Assembly Finance Commission (“the Commission) falls under the purview of the Student Assembly;

Whereas, in the Spring of 2012 the Student Assembly passed a significant change to the Commission’s funding guidelines;

Whereas, since that time the Commission has identified a number of issues that need to be corrected before the Fall 2012 funding process commences;

Be it therefore resolved, that Section 3.1.6.6. of the SAFC Guidelines, “Special Cancellation Request”, be edited with the following additions in bold and the following phrases in removed:

3.1.6.6. Special Cancellation Request
The commission permits the submission of Special Cancellation Requests to allow organizations to remove select funds from the tier and efficiency spending calculation in light of circumstances that were unforeseen at the time of application.

[� ] If the expense is not a durable good, the Request must be submitted to the commission within two weeks of the organization becoming aware of the inability to fulfill the expense. If the expense is a durable good, the Request must be submitted to the commission by the midway point of the semester (the date of which must be released by the commission before applications are released for the semester in question).

[� ] The commission will determine whether or not the circumstances are unforeseen and if so whether the provided supporting documentation is sufficient enough to confirms this. These circumstances may include but are not limited to:

1. speaker/performer cancellations after the budget was reviewed;
2. weather conditions prohibiting travel;
3. a reduction in price after the submission of the original price quote;
4. injury or illness; or
5. actual costs are lower than those allocated under negotiated rates.

Be it further resolved, that Section 5 of the SAFC Guidelines, “Budget Hearings”, be edited with the following additions in bold and the following phrases in removed:

5 Budget Hearings
An applicant may only request a hearing regarding a request which:

1. is submitted in a regular application; and
2. received less than the maximum allocation for which it is eligible, which is the lesser of the amount requested and the semester tier cap for that group.

The commission:
# does not allow amendment of the originally submitted request;

1. accepts additional documentation and statements provided by the applicant which clarify or support the requests included in the original submission;
2. keeps minutes which document the names of participants in the hearing, the questions asked of the applicant, and the responses received. ; and
3. requires at least 2 and no more than 4 commissioners to be present at every hearing.

The applicant:
# provides no less than one and no more than three representatives of whom all must be either undergraduate student members or registered advisors; and,

1. limits responses to the questions posed by the commissioners.

The applicant may cancel a hearing until one business day before it is scheduled without penalty. If no representative arrives within ten minutes of the scheduled start of the hearing, the commission notes the absence or lateness and reduces the allocation to ninety percent of what it would otherwise be.

Be it further resolved, that Section 8.2.2 of the SAFC Guidelines, “Local Event: Eligible Funds”, be edited with the following additions in bold and the following phrases in removed:

8.2.2 Eligible Events
To be eligible for funding the event must:

1. occur between the first and last day of classes:
2. occur on a weekday when classes are in session or a weekend that is not part of a university holiday such as Fall Break or Spring Break; and,
3. align with the core mission and function of the organization;
4. be one of the following:
   1. a practice session for athletic or performance organizations, or
   2. a public event open to the Cornell community to the extent permitted by spatial, temporal, or financial constraints; and
5. not have a primary or substantive purpose of:
6. conversion/worship
7. influencing legislation
8. partisan political activity
9. raising funds for profit
10. raising funds for charity, unless the event has another equally substantive purpose related to the mission of the organization
11. social activity; and,
12. comply with the Use of University Property Policy, if it occurs on campus.

Be it finally resolved, that the following section, “Section 8: Fall and Spring Only Funding”, be inserted before the current Section 8 of the SAFC Guidelines, “Categories of Supported Expenses”, and that all further sections and headings be renumbered appropriately:

8 Fall and Spring Only Funding
If a group wishes to spend all of their funding in one semester, it may choose to receive double the funding in either the spring or fall by foregoing the option to receive funding in the other semester of that academic year.

If a group chooses to use this option and receive funding in only one semester, it:
# will be eligible for twice its fall tier cap, regardless of whether the spring cap is higher or lower; and

1. must notify the SAFC of its decision to use all of its funds in one semester and what that semester will be before the submission of the online budget by completing a Fall/Spring Only Semester Form.

Respectfully Submitted,

Roneal Desai, ‘12
Student Assembly Vice President of Finance
Minority Representative At-Large

Cameron Pritchett, ‘15
Minority Representative At-large
SAFC Liaison

Matthew Gruber, ‘13
SAFC Co-Chair

Brandon Coulter ‘13
SAFC Co-Chair

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