Student Assembly Finance Commission
March 2nd, 2009
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

Lee Blum, Jack Castle, Cailen Casey, David Chu, Maddie Ehrlich, Elyse Feldman, Charlie Feng, Varun Gehani, Ian Lesyk, Michael McCormick, Yuliya Neverova, Lauren Nicola, Jonathon Raymond, Scott Rog, Cathy You, Dan Gusz, Vivien Pillet, Lauren Rosenblum, Cameron Scott, Qing Zhao

III. Business of the Day

Attendance/ Recruitment Timeline/ General Guidelines Issues and Changes

V. Gehani said that next week there will be a general vote on whether the individuals who have 7 or more points on their attendance should be kept on the commission. He then proposed recruitment dates for new applicants, and asked if April 18th was open for everyone.

J. Castle and E. Feldman stated schedule conflicts with April 18th.

L. Rosenblum said that she would be handing out quarter cards at residential dorms, put an ad in the Daily Sun, and send out emails to the presidents of clubs and Greek organizations to publicize the commission’s recruitment.

Y. Neverova informed the commission that four out of twenty groups appealed to the SA, and will present to the appropriations committee. Two of the cases were for special projects funding. She asked if there were any comments on the applications process.

L. Rosenblum said that the section in the guidelines about requiring a letter from advisor needed to be clarified, since many groups were missing this.

C. Scott commented that it was difficult to get a group’s percentage of active members. Also, entering data in the computer system was troublesome.

J. Castle agreed that the budget application system was outdated. Groups could still apply for new books and the overhead cost, which is no longer is SAFC policy.

J. Raymond added that the banners on the website needed to be taken down, and that there were inconsistencies in the checklist.

I. Lesyk said that the budget caps of traveling costs for more than four people is always a problem for team sports, who often have to travel to tournaments and games.

Y. Neverova said that a team can apply for the funding to cover the travel expenses of more than four people.

L. Rosenblum commented that if groups applied but did not receive funding for the last two semesters, the cap should be at $1000 instead of $500.

D. Gusz suggested that the commissioners should had out the necessary application documents to applicants at help sessions, instead of telling them to look online.

C. Scott proposed that there should be a mass email sent out to each group’s president, informing them of information sessions and how to fill out a budget for new treasurers.

L. Rosenblum said that maybe the SAFC should hold workshops for groups. J. Castle said that it had been done before, but people never came. He said that the late submission rule should be considered for implementation.

V. Pillet asked if anything was being done about umbrella organizations. He said that maybe the SA-SAFC taskforce could think of some way to consolidate groups.

L. Rosenblum commented that commissioners need more than 15 minutes for each group during budget hearings. She suggested allocating more time to larger groups so that the commissioners would not rush through budgets, which could reduce SAFC error.

V. Gehani agreed, and said that co-orgs and club sports usually need more time to go through during the hearings.

C. Casey said that maybe commissioners could review budgets a half hour before each hearing.

M. Ehrlich said that the internet connection was very bad throughout budget hearings.

Y. Neverova also mentioned the problem of groups asking for domain names.

J. Raymond clarified that groups can apply to get those from Cornell for free, so the SAFC does not fund for them.

J. Castle commented that he was looking forward to future changes. He said that some groups were claiming that the SAFC was not subjective.

Y. Neverova said that the task-force is at step 1 — to make a more selective process for the creation of new organizations. She said that Cornell approves new groups to easily.

J. Raymond said that in meetings the task-force has gone over subjectivity and objectivity, and said that there will be significant changes to the process.

V. Gehani asked if there were any more comments.

IV. Meeting was adjourned at 5:45 pm.

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