Student Assembly Finance Commission
February 22, 2010
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

Emlyn Diakow, Charlie Feng, Benjamin Finkle, Jacob Frank, Dan Gusz, Kristen Jenkins, George Kang, Charles Kim, Rahul Kishore, Lawrence Kogos, Chris Lee, Jason Marder, Justin Min, Yuliya Neverova, Joseph Nocciolino, Vivien Pillet, Scott Rog, Robin Shapiro, Kevin Song, Mack Wallace, David Wong, Phoebe Yu, and Jessica Zhao

III. Business of the Day

Help session sign-ups/ Allocations update/ Open forum: budget hearings

The commission wished co-chair Feng a very happy birthday.

C. Feng thanked everyone for a smooth set of budget hearings and all their hard work. He informed everyone that the budget allocations were released today. The caps ended up being $5500 for co-organizations, $4000 for regular clubs and $4000 for club sports. These caps are a bit harsher in lieu of last semester, since more organizations in general submitted better budgets.

D. Gusz said that there would be help sessions this week for groups who have questions about their allocations and need help looking through their budget in order to help them decide whether or not to appeal. He asked the commissioners to explain the caps to groups who requested more money. He told the commissioners to sign up for at least one of the help sessions.

D. Gusz said that starting next week and for the remainder of the semester, the commission would be going over the guidelines, focusing on the “big picture” rather than small line-by-line changes. He added that he would be looking to limit funding in travel and other areas to make the process more fluid.

C. Feng said he wanted an open forum about how the budget hearings went, especially for the new commissioners.

Y. Neverova said that one issue she had was that the checklist referred to a different standard of travel reimbursement, which caused one group she had to calculate at the wrong rate. She said that this needed to be corrected with the right amounts so the commission will be more consistent with groups and the process.

C. Scott asked how much money is left over for special projects and appeals.

C. Feng answered that there is a little over $50,000. The SA would also be making decisions about the appeals.

D. Gusz asked the new commissioners for their input.

L. Kogos said that at first he did not know what was going on, and felt a bit useless during the first few hearings. However, he now feels that he fully understands the guidelines and the process. He thought it should be stressed to future commissioners that they will learn most of what they need to know during budget hearings.

E. Diakow suggested that one of the “big picture” changes they should look into is to allow groups who have hit their caps to apply for special projects funding for money that is left in the last cycle.

V. Pillet said that there were many problems with the website application interface, that definitely should be changed next semester.

D. Gusz added that the old computers were not making the process any smoother.

S. Rog said that some groups did not know if they needed a letter from their advisor, and that there was some confusion about the travel addendum and inventory report.

C. Scott asked if the amount that is allocated for travel is for gas alone, if they included other travel expenses. She added that she saw some groups listing round trip mileage, while others applied for one way mileage.

D. Gusz answered that the money is only for gas, and agreed that there were some discrepancies for travel. He said that this subject in particular would be discussed in the coming weeks, and was something that the commission had repeatedly run into for allocating too much for travel and thus lowering the caps for everyone.

C. Feng discussed the SAFC budget in terms of food and other expenses for the rest of the semester.

C. Scott asked about the dates for recruitment.

J. Marder answered that it would be taking place after spring break, but he would announce more details about it later.

D. Gusz reminded everyone to wear their shirts to the help sessions.

IV. Meeting was adjourned at 5:30 pm.

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