By Daniel Johnson-Kim, Editor in Chief
The Students’ Association Congress voted to give a group of ACU physics students a little help Wednesday.
Daniel Jumper, engineering physics major from Richardson and president of the Society of Physics Students,came before Congress to request $2,200 to help pay for the society’s trip to the Sigma Pi Sigma Quadrennial Congress conference in Chicago.
A motion to give the Society of Physics Students the amount requested passed 35-0-1. The amount given reduced the overall amount in the Student Request fund-a sum set aside in SA’s budget for Congress to distribute among the student body and student groups-from $10,389.79 to $8,189.79.
The motion passed only after Congress debated the issue for nearly an hour. Jumper explained to the student congress how the conference would benefit the students who attended and was in line with the ACU mission.
Jumper said the Society of Physics Students would pay more than $4,000 out of its own pocket, and they were only requesting a small portion of the trip’s total costs.
“It’s a great thing that happens only every four years,” Jumper said. “It’s a forum for scientists and students to have roundtable discussions about various issues in our field.”
But the decision to give nearly 20 percent of the Congress’ Student Activity fund, a sum of more than $10,000 set aside in the SA budget to distribute to student groups for various needs, was not an easy decision for some congress members.
“We need to be consistent across the board,” Senior Senator Kyle Pickens told the Congress during debate of the motion.
Pickens’ largest qualm was the amount the group requested to help pay for hotel funds and gas costs. Pickens said he did not believe it was fair, since the Congress did not give as much to other student groups for similar costs and trips. He said giving away 20 percent of the fund was not a good precedent to set for the rest of the year.
But other congressmen said the fact the members of the Society of Physics Students raised so much money themselves and planned to hold a campuswide forum about issues they would discuss at the conference proved it was worth the money.
“I think this is an opportunity where we cannot use those guidelines, and it will benefit these guys,” said Kyle Moore, off-campus representative.
Colter Lane, Foster Science Building representative, lobbied for his constituents, citing that backing this group was an opportunity for SA to help support students who would represent ACU at a national platform.
“I really believed in everything Daniel [Jumper] presented to us,” Lane said.
