By Paul A. Anthony, Editor in Chief

The Students’ Association Wednesday quickly and unanimously approved a total of $6,210, bringing the Student Request Fund down to about $5,788.77 about halfway through the semester.

Shades step squad, College Republicans, Frater Sodalis and the Student Action Leadership Team all received money in closed-door appropriations meetings over the past two weeks, and the grants were approved by Congress Wednesday.

Congress then granted the Rodeo Club $3,200 for the ACU Rodeo.

Wilkerson also presented the mid-semester budget summary at Wednesday’s meeting. The senior class is the only class that hasn’t spent any money. Among committees, Environmental and Habitat for Humanity have spent nothing, while Spiritual Life and Treadaway Kids have spent very little of their allotted amounts.

“This year pledging really slowed a lot of people down,” Wilkerson said, adding that the majority of the class expenditures will occur late in the semester.

All told, however, SA’s budget stands at almost exactly half of what it started with. About $48,000 remains in the budget, while classes, committees, executive officers and Congress have spent about $47,000.

Appropriations grants of $1,500 to Shades, $460 to the Republicans, $2,004.32 to Frats and $950 to SALT were counted in the summary. The Rodeo Club grant then passed 38-0 with two abstentions.

So far this semester, Congress has spent about $24,000 out of an original $30,000. One of the reasons for the big spending so early, Wilkerson said, is that Appropriations began meeting two weeks earlier, allowing high-request groups to ask for money earlier than normal. Wilkerson said he doesn’t expect many more groups to come before his committee this semester.

“We took care of a lot of the big groups,” Wilkerson said. “There might be a few small groups left.”

The Students’ Association meets every Wednesday in Room 114 of the Biblical Studies Building. All undergraduates are members of SA and are invited to attend.