Student Assembly Finance Commission
February 21th, 2005
5:00 p.m. — 6:00 p.m.
163 Day Hall

I. Call to Order

The Meeting was called to order at 5:05 p.m.

II. Roll Call

Commissioners

David Bean, Sarah Boxer, Darius Dillon, Michael Eisner, Erica Fischer, Lisa Gilbertson, Sorby Grant , Steve Grossman, Steve Hecht, David Lederman, Michael Louis, Sean MacGregor, Spencer Pepper, Carlos Perez, Ashwin Phadins, Eric Shulman, Anastasiya Sidorva , Riti Singh, Kate-Lynn Timmermans, Phela Townsend, Evan Walker, Marissa Wilson, Joey Zielinski

III. Business of the Day

Mike Powers was introduced.

Budget Cuts

D. Bean said there were problems with money so cuts had to be made. To explain it to the groups we are going to send in a letter to the Sun to be published, explaining the situation. In the letter we are going to thank the groups for being very organized, but we simply had too many good budgets, and since club sports can only receive 20% of the total budget, we had to cut club sports drastically. Thus groups can get bi-line funding in addition to what they get, so that they can make up for lost money.

S. Grossman added that club sports were cut 31% and all other groups by about 20%, but they didn’t touch any group under $500, and they added a $10,000 cap.

Question — What is the normal for cuts? Reply — It varies from year to year but club sports usually take some cut.

S. Grossman said that due to these drastic cuts, we have a better reason to ask for more funding.

Q — Is the cap for this year only? R — Yes

Re-Cap On Weekend

K. Timmermans said that there were some inconsistencies during the weekend that she has to clean up. For next year, map quest will be required for mileage. Also, we don’t fund for arts and crafts, but it’s ok if it’s cultural. We don’t fund for spring break trips, but will for the conferences during spring break. If there is a free-room booked, we will not fund for any extras in the room. For car rentals, we still do fund for them for speakers. We will also strengthen the guidelines on whether or not the guest really has to stay overnight. Don’t forget to check the groups to see if they are new or not.

Q — How did tournaments work for club sports? R — Same was as a conference. If they couldn’t have planed for it, it would go under a special project. If it is a semi-final or final, then it is definitely under special projects. Club sports are very unique because they have so many tournaments. This eventually gets constrained but the cuts we make.

D. Lederman said to not forget that groups cannot put more than one conference in one priority. Be sure to check for that.

Q — Is the limit still 4–8 people? R — Club sports are, again, special, so we are not as strict on that as non-sport clubs.

Q — What about some of the inconsistencies with roundtrip, such as putting down only half the mileage? Do we give them the benefit of the doubt? R — We can only fund for what they put down, otherwise we would have to read-into many other budgets and it wouldn’t be fair.

Q — What about room reservation costs? R — Each group must still have proof of price next year to funding.

Q — Why don’t we change car rental funding since we all have a problem with it? R — If you want to, bring it up after appeals and we will all deal with that issue then.

Appeals/Help Sessions

D. Lederman said that this weekend is appeals, so all the groups now have three days for turnaround. Therefore everyone has to be here at 9:30 am until every group is done.

L. Gilbertson passed around a food/drink choice sheet for the coming weekend’s food choice.

S. Grossman said that if you miss this weekend it counts as two absents, so don’t miss it.

K. Timmermans added that people needed to make sure they weren’t in violation of the attendance policy.

S. Grossman also added that if no one shows up this weekend, the rest of the people will have to be there forever, so please show up.

S Boxer moved onto help sessions. They are Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, and it is required that each commissioner goes to one. They are from 2:30pm-4:30pm. At the help sessions, don’t encourage them to appeal, just help them. To appeal, there must be some basis of discrimination or there was a calculation error.

S. Grossman added that the commissioners should forward anything they are confused about to the SAFC list-serve.

S. Boxer sent around a sign-up sheet. She added that if anyone couldn’t make it, to e-mail K. Timmermans. If you are not sure, then show up whenever you can. She lastly added that all the commissioners need to put their names on every budget they see, and to remember each group they saw.

K. Timmermans next asked all the commissioners to wear their t-shirts to the help sessions and appeals. She added that there will be signs to where the help sessions will be.

D. Lederman finally reminded all the commissioners to make sure they sign up for a help session.

IV. Meeting ended at 5:30 pm.

Respectfully Submitted,
Daniel Kantor
SAFC Clerk, Office of the Assemblies