By Paul A. Anthony, Editor in Chief
A standing committee on the Students’ Association budget likely will find that the executive officers did not intentionally allow inconsistencies in this year’s allocations, its chair said during Wednesday’s meeting.
The nine-member standing committee was created to investigate allegations by some Congress members that the SA budget favored some student groups over others. Rep. Elizabeth Alvarez, Administration Building, said the committee will vote on a decision in the coming week.
“Because of the Big Shake-Up, there’s so many more groups asking for money at one time,” Alvarez said. “There’s just so much to do.”
Alvarez told Congress the committee would conduct a forum Dec. 1 at 8:45 p.m. in the Hilton Room for student groups who may request money in the future. The forum would discuss the right and wrong ways to request a budget and make recommendations for future SA budget creation, she said.
Also in the meeting, Congress, at Alvarez’s request, referred her Operation ARISE bill, which had been the source of heated debate two weeks ago, to a committee to monitor its necessity next semester.
The bill, designed to meet various student needs that aren’t covered by a specific campus entity, was derailed by a lengthy debate that got off-topic Nov. 5, Alvarez said. Congress ended up debating whether Congress should create a committee for helping at-risk students among other things.
“None of those things was the focus of the bill,” Alvarez told Congress, “but that’s where the discussion seemed to have gone.”
Alvarez said several changes to Sing Song and social club structures in recent weeks had changed the need for the bill, which would have created a committee to research and serve those various needs.
Meanwhile, Congress approved its 47th member-Rick Crane, junior computer science major from Fort Worth, a representative from Foster Science Building. The voice vote was unanimous.
Congress also approved by unanimous voice vote the allocation of $462.75 to the Honors Society for its masquerade and $725 to Students in Free Enterprise to cover the group’s expenses for T-shirts given out at its 5k run for the family of Tiffany Hamilton, the student who died earlier this semester.
Another unanimous voice vote passed a resolution approving letters already sent to University Church of Christ and the city of Abilene urging the installation of better lighting in the church’s back parking lot and on Judge Ely Boulevard between University Park apartments and East North 16th Street, respectively.
The Students’ Association Congress meets every Wednesday at 5 p.m. in Room 114 of the Biblical Studies Building. Every undergraduate is a member of SA and is invited to attend.
