Student Assembly Finance Commission
September 29th, 2008
5:00 p.m. — 6:00 p.m.
163 Day Hall

I. Call to Order

The Meeting was called to order at 5:04 p.m.

II. Roll Call

Commissioners

Lee Blum, Jack Castle, Cailen Casey, David Chu, Celeste Chung, Maddie Ehrlich, Elyse Feldman, Charlie Feng, Danielle Fernandes, Benjamin Finkle, Stanley Gartshein, Varun Gehani, Chris Hilbert, Michael McCormick, Shirley McCrohan, Taylor Mulherin, Yulia Neverova, Lauren Nicola, Michael Parry, Jonathan Raymond, Scott Rog, Benjamin Schreff, Arthi Sridharan, Wai Kin Wong, Cathy You, Huiling Yu, Dan Gusz, Alex James, Lauren Jennings, Vivien Pillet, Lauren Rosenblum, Cameron Scott, Qing Zhao

III. Business of the Day

Appeals Hearings/ Allocations Mistakes/ Future Suggestions

J.Castle started off the meeting by announcing that the last big event for SAFC would be the appeals hearing this weekend. He asked that everyone sign up for at least one of the two of help sessions, which would be on Tuesday and Wednesday from 4:30–5:30 in B12 Day Hall.

Help session sign-up sheets were passed around.

T.Mulherin said that although the hearings would be from 11:00–1:00 on Saturday, everyone must be there at 10:00, since there are many things that must be gone over. He said that it was absolutely mandatory that everyone attend, and to plan on staying until 4:00.

J.Castle added that breakfast will be available at 10:00. He said that the commissioners will go over the 25% rule before the hearings, which the executive board will finalize by this weekend. J.Castle said that there will be 5 tables of 3 people each for the hearings. He said that each group will fill out an SAFC oversight sheet if they think that SAFC made a mistake, or a new information form which adds anything that was not included in the budget at no penalty. He noted that if a group claimed they were discriminated against, it should be treated as an SAFC oversight. J.Castle said that it was important to look at what the claim is appealing under, since more often than not it may be incorrect. He said that he would go over the rules again on Saturday morning.

T.Mulherin asked that everyone take more vigorous notes, and requested that a senior commissioner at each table take the notes since they may know what to look for. It would then be taken to the rest of the commission after the appeals.

V.Gehani added that it was the entire commission’s decision for each appeal.

T.Mulherin said that many of the allocations from the budget hearings had mistakes.

J.Castle said that many of the commissioners did an allocation and printed it out, but never submitted the budget to enter the system. He suggested that the older commissioners read for the first couple of sessions. He asked that everyone use a little more oversight in the future over rationales, and to not rush through.

T. Mulherin said that people seemed to fund anything under administrations, so they had to go back because there was a lack of clarification and many undocumented miscellaneous expenses.

E.Feldman said that one of the mistakes she saw were the allocations for events during winter break, which the SAFC does not fund. She added that this accounted for thousands of dollars, and emphasized the importance of checking dates beforehand.

J.Castle reminded the commissioners that they were representing Cornell, and to use proper and clear language when filling out the allocations. He also asked that everyone be helpful and informative to the groups, since this adds less work during the appeals and to the office.

Y.Neverova asked how the SAFC questions inbox worked, and why the SAFC liaison did not return this year.

J.Castle said it seemed that everyone wanted the liaison back for next time. He asked if anyone wanted to talk about the liaison or any other suggestions.

M.Ehrlich said she liked how there were information sheets for alternate funding, and thought that they should be given out and available at tables.

J.Castle agreed.

C.Casey asked that the commissioners be contacted about the mistakes they may have made during the hearings.

J. Castle answered that this was not necessary; he said that everyone, even seniors, made mistakes. He asked what everyone thought about more training prior to the budget hearings.

V.Gehani suggested doing mock budget hearings like there were in the past.

The rest of executive board agreed.

M.Ehrlich said that there should be training for returning commissioners as well, in case there are new policies or if a commissioner forgets rules.

J.Castle responded that training for the whole commission had been requested.

T.Mulherin presented a question to the commission if the budget hearings should be spread over more days, so that it would take place over four days instead of three.

J.Raymond explained that the hearings used to take place from Thursday to Sunday. However, the last day’s afternoon session seemed sparse, so it made sense to compact everything into three days.

V.Gehani said that the long breaks in between the sessions were meant for the commissioners to do allocations. He recommended that the commissioners take notes during the hearings, and do allocations after. J.Castle said that the maximum fundings were $7,200 for regular groups, $7,500 for club sports, and $9,500 for co-organizations.

T.Mulherin said that these rules would be further lineated on Saturday morning.

IV. Meeting was adjourned at 5:45 pm.

Respectfully Submitted,
Valerie Pocus
SAFC Clerk, Office of the Assemblies