Student Assembly Finance Commission
October 29th, 2007
5:00 p.m. — 6:00 p.m.
163 Day Hall

I. Call to Order

The Meeting was called to order at 5:00 p.m.

II. Roll Call

Commissioners

John Castle, Luke Chernosky, Kelsey Donahue, Danielle Fernandes, Jennifer Hsu, Josh Kim, Michael McCormack, Yuliya Neverova, Johnathon Raymond, Alex Saltman, Benjamin Schreff, Eric Schulman, Huiling Yu, Taylor Mulherin, David Chu, Lauren Nicola

III. Business of the Day

Response to Sun Article/Attendance/P&T Changes

L. Chernosky started out the meeting by passing around mid-semester E-board evaluations. The commission was given five minutes to fill these out. Next, Mr. Chernosky mentioned that he had previously sent out a blurb about recruitment, and told the commissioners that they could forward it on to whomever they deemed necessary. He added that Mr. Bendix is currently quarter-carding all of the campus to help get the word out. Mr. Chernosky then said that new application first cuts will be made after the November 13th meeting with interviews on the following Saturday. He also mentioned that E-board elections are going to be next week and he is excited for them. Next, Mr. Chernosky went over the three appeals that he worked on. He said that the Jewish Russian Club was not over turned, but the Salsa Mundo was. He added that the Sikh Association was sent back to the Appropriations Committee for another ruling. Lastly, Mr. Chernosky said that this meeting one commissioner will be brought up for attendance policy issues.

J. Castle asked if there was going to be a response by Mr. Chernosky or Mr. Lesyk to Greg Wolf’s Op-Ed article critiquing the SAFC.

J. Raymond said that the SAFC could not ignore this article as it was not accurate. He said that some response should be made.

L. Chernosky replied that he did not want to engage the SAFC in a publicity war.

J. Castle said that a lot of uninformed people do read the Sun, and we should have a response because it was an article written on an opinion and not the truth. He added that this would be good to keep the campus informed about the SAFC.

M. McCormick said that maybe next year the SAFC could proactively address this before budget hearings. He said this could also help because people find the SAFC un-approachable.

K. Donahue said that most people don’t know how the SAFC comes up with the cuts and caps, so it would be good to explain things to the campus.

J. Neverova asked what the article specifically talked about.

J. Castle said that the main points were that the SAFC arbitrarily decides how much money to give groups, and that at other universities; club sports receive all the funding they want, so Cornell should too.

D. Fernandes said that aside from this response, the SAFC should put information about cuts and caps in the budget packets.

A. Saltman said that groups had no idea of the process this year more than ever, so the SAFC should include a sheet in the budget packets explaining things better.

J. Raymond said that the SAFC assumes groups have institutional memory, but they don’t. He said that we should then deal with this earlier.

J. Hsu said that it seemed the commission wanted a response article explaining things, but asked by whom.

J. Castle said that it would be good from Mr. Chernosky and Ms. Ehrlich or Mr. Lesyk as this would cover both sources of funding.

K. Donahue said that the article should also talk about the SAFC in general to get our name out.

A. Saltman said that if the article included some basic information on the SAFC it would be good.

H. Yu said that they should include a basic outline of funding as well.

L. Chernosky said that this was good, and now it is time to move on to discuss the person being brought up for attendance issues.

K. Donahue went over the current attendance policy briefly, and asked that people give valid excuses before Sunday at midnight for the following meeting. She added that to continue with the discussion the majority of the commission needed to be present (which it was), then the person being brought up gave a speech, then the rest of the commission discussed, and lastly there would be a vote.

L. Chernosky said that Mr. Schulman would be speaking, and then the SAFC would discuss his attendance, and then vote.

K. Donahue said that Mr. Schulman did not attend some budget hearings due to religious reasons, was late to a couple of budget hearings, missed two regular meetings, and did not attend one of the help session for appeals.

E. Schulman said that the reasons why he had not been at the SAFC things, was because he is taking 21 credits in the Engineering College, has interviews, and had religious reasons for other events. He said that he should be allowed on the SAFC because he has been on the commission since freshman year, served on the E-Board, and is a senior.

-Eric Schulman leaves the room and discussion ensues, followed by voting.

-Eric Schulman is then brought back into the room.

L. Chernosky said that he would explain to Mr. Schulman whether or not he would remain on the commission after the meeting and the rest of the commission would be notified via email. Next, Mr. Chernosky moved on to say the commission would be going over the first category in the President and Treasurer’s Handbook. He said that there was a discrepancy between the number of casts and the overall cost.

J. Castle said that the $30 max to impressions should be stated.

L. Chernosky said that this section is very cut and dry, but asked if anyone else had concerns with it. He said they would update the Daily Sun amount.

J. Neverova said that the max number for chalk buckets is in this section and in the publicity section, and that this is confusing.

J. Castle clarified that groups can get three buckets of chalk in this category and then additional buckets for events.

L. Chernosky asked about the maintenance of first aid kits.

J. Kim said that many groups apply for them under durable goods instead of this category, so the SAFC should make that more clear.

B. Schreff said that this idea should have its own separate letter and not a sub-note.

L. Chernosky re-iterated that this section was very straight forward, and reminded the commissioners that next week would be E-board elections.

IV. Meeting ended at 5:50 pm.

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