Student Assembly Finance Commission
October 5, 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, Emlyn Diakow, Charlie Feng, Danielle Fernandes, Benjamin Finkle, Jacob Frank, Dan Gusz, Lauren Jennings, Rahul Kishore, Brandon Levitan, Jason Marder, Yuliya Neverova, Joseph Nocciolino, Michael Parry, Vivien Pillet, Scott Rog, Lauren Rosenblum, Benjamin Schreff, Cameron Scott, Holden Steinhauer, Samantha Wiener, and Justin Min

Club Sports Representatives

Annie Linker, Katherine Lange and Chad Kossar

III. Business of the Day

Commissioner suggestions for the online application

A. Epstein said he thought it would be a good idea to hear directly about what ideas the commission has about the new online interface, and explain to them directly what he is realistically able to do. He added that there is not an assigned IT support staff, so there are limitations on what the office can do.

Y. Neverova said that she and A. Epstein had already discussed some of the comments on the feedback sheet, would be taking into consideration whatever the groups wrote down. She asked if anyone had any comments about groups registering with the SAO, or any other issues.

R. Kishore said that when he talked to groups he found that a lot of budgets requested miscategorized funding, such as asking for publicity funds under publications. Although partly the groups’ fault, he acknowledged that it can be easy to mismatch and misunderstand what is being asked in the application. He thought it would be a good idea to put a small explanation under each section in the online budget.

Y. Neverova said that the budget application in theory should closely align with guidelines. She suggested to A. Epstein that the guidelines could be displayed on the side of the online application.

A. Epstein said that it would be relatively easy to add guidelines to the form. However, the guidelines change from year to year which could be impractical for the website.

Y. Neverova suggested attaching links to the application, so that it would not be necessary to change the entire website every time the guidelines are changed.

H. Steinhauer said that with the feedback that he received from the help sessions that the SAFC should focus more so on being consistent, not necessarily the interface.

Y. Neverova said that she would keep what Holden said in mind, but she definitely thought there were things about the interface that could be corrected.

D. Gusz suggested changing the whole online registration to a Google docs form. He said that although it is very simplistic, he has used it for a number of things at Cornell, and thought that it would be an easy way of putting down all the basic information in a spreadsheet.

Y. Neverova said that one thing that J. Min brought up at the eboard meetings is the system of approval by the president, treasurer, or advisor of club, and how to edit a mistake once the application becomes locked once a person approves it.

A. Epstein said the rationale for this system is to avoid a person signing a document, then having it changed by another individual with his or her signature still on it. He said that removing each person’s approval will be able to unlock the application for edit, without any of the contents being changed.

Y. Neverova suggested that the deadline is changed so that it is not on a Sunday. She noted some groups which had trouble getting in touch with their advisors during the weekend to sign an approval. She asked A. Linker if there were any new developments from the Club Sports Council at their last meeting.

A. Linker said that they had talked about reforming the online forms to make it easier for to fill out and make it more suited for club sports.

C. Kossar explained that some of the things club sports needed to budget for did not fit into current categories in SAFC budget. He suggested setting up a sort of parallel budget of the same format, but replacing some areas with sections that were more appropriate for club sports.

IV. Meeting was adjourned at 5:40 pm.

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