Student Assembly Finance Commission
March 7, 2011
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

Shah Ahmad, Calvin Baldwin, Edward Barton, Anna Connors, Matthew Gruber, Erich Heintzen, Maxine Hepfer, Kristen Jenkins, George Kang, Catherine Kim, Charles Kim, David Dim, Rahul Kishore, Lawrence Kogos, Daniel Krenitsyn, Stephanie Lau, Chris Lee, Robin Shapiro, Diana Simpson, Kevin Song, Holden Steinhauer, Margaret Szerbicki, Yong Kai Tan, Andrew Verri, David Wong, and Jessica Zhao.

III. Business of the Day

Guideline changes discussion/ Attendance policy proposals

K. Song divided the commissioners into groups of four to discuss the following guideline changes: request for funds and documentation, administration expenses and publications, local events, travel events, and durable goods. After chatting about the potential improvements to the guidelines, these would be written up and formally voted on next week.

The commission discussed possible changes amongst their groups about their assigned sections in the guidelines.

H. Steinhauer suggested under “eligible expenses” that no expenses can be requested under a jointly organized budget that are also requested in a regular budget, to avoid double dipping by co-orgs. He also suggested that under “purpose” to explicitly add that even if a group does not have a budget request outside of a jointly organized event, it must still submit a regular budget.

K. Song asked if there were any comments.

D. Kim thought that it was not necessary to make any further changes to the particular section about administration expenses and publications.

C. Feng suggested adding an explicit option to request a Daily Sun advertisement, in order to clarify the SAFC discount rate for funded groups.

D. Simpson said that for local events, the UPP link does not work, and that we need to state what is needed if the UPP isn’t coming through. She also thought that letter of intent versus proof of contact needs to be further clarified in the guidelines. She added that provided that reimbursements are completed prior to the deadline, events should be permitted to be held through finals week. She also suggested initiating some sort of rule or limit for rehearsal time as a local event.

C. Baldwin thought that for under travel events, the $1500 cap for travel outside the U.S. was rather arbitrary, and that an explanation for that number should be included in the guidelines. He also thought that the details for overnight lodging should be expanded in the guidelines, and also giving the possibility of letting Cornell clubs host events outside Tompkins County.

E. Barton thought that the $1500 cap on international cap should be explained if it is enforced; otherwise it should be taken out of the guidelines.

J. Zhao asked where the number from this cap came from.

C. Feng said that this cap amount has been there for a while. He thought the cap may have been created from some distance calculations, and also to keep groups from traveling randomly. He thought that it was acceptable for the commission to relook at this issue.

K. Song suggested having a distance traveled, versus arbitrary out-of-state cap. As for local events, he said that the commission currently funds for rehearsals. He asked how the commission felt about limiting this.

K. Jenkins, for durable goods, suggested taking a paragraph about inventory out from “eligibility” and add a third bullet point to “equipment” that reads “SAFC Inventory Report” for previously allocated durable goods.

L. Kogos that the bullet point about the inventory report form should be very specific, stating the status of each item, including those lost, discarded or stolen. Also it must be included in the form whether a good that had been allocated money had actually been purchased.

K. Song asked if anyone had any other suggestions. He said that these proposal changes would be formalized into writing, and then voted on at the meeting next week to be presented to the Student Assembly.

K. Jenkins went over the current attendance policy and points system. She asked if there was anything the commissioners thought could be changed.

E. Barton thought that some of the rules were rather draconian. Accumulating points could happen very quickly within a matter of days during budget hearings or help sessions, even if a commissioner had a valid excuse.

D. Simpson thought it was important to have a point system, and suggested a system or specific ways commissioners could redeem themselves from their points. She also thought there should be a maximum amount of excused absences, after which should have some sort of penalty.

D. Wong thought there should be a difference in penalties for commissioners who are simply not doing their jobs, versus having duties that are conflicting with the SAFC. He suggested that excused absences have less weight in points compared to unexcused absences.

K. Song reiterated some of the proposals made about the attendance policy, and asked if the commissioners had any other suggestions.

IV. Meeting was adjourned at 5:45 pm.

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