April 15th Senate approved an Expansion fund for the Black Student Union for the amount $9,264. The fund is being allocated to BSU in the hopes of expanding their annual event: Tiger Stomp. The decision garnered much discussion amongst the senators. Walter Whatley, a Senator-At-Large, asked a question about a specific expense and this allowed for Jamecia Crenshaw, BSU Social Director, to explain more in depth what the expansion fund was needed for.
Crenshaw went into depth explaining that moving Tiger Stomp from the Student ACT to the Auburn Arena brought a lot of unexpected costs that BSU had not foreseen. BSU had made an initial budget for Tiger Stomp for $14,000 dollars before they had any idea how many costs would come from booking the Arena. The total costs this year from Tiger Stomp were $23,264, leaving BSU with a $9,264 deficit (the amount they are now asking for). BSU took that additional $9,264 out of other BSU programs to pay for Tiger Stomp this year but is hoping the Expansion fund will allow them to avoid that in coming years and reimburse them for the deficit this year.
"Our original meeting with Keith Bagwell who is over athletic facilities, we were not informed that we would need all of these additional costs and all these additional supplies for Tiger Stomp." said Crenshaw about the planning process. Crenshaw went on to explain that much of the money went to lighting because the arena cannot keep its lights on for extended periods of time.
Senator Sam Wilcox, Senator for Liberal Arts, urged his fellow senators to pass the bill making the comparison to University Program Council (UPC) being given even larger sums of money for events. Senator Rob Garcia, Senator for Business, made the point though that Tiger Stomp is paid for out of Student Activities fees while there are non-Auburn students involved with and attending the event while UPC events are only for Auburn students. Senator Richmond Gunter, Senator of Business, went on to clarify Garcia's point:
"If the event is expanding, if it is bringing in more students than just students in the Auburn area and of that nature; why is the event not getting sponsorships? If it's such a large event this deficit could be offset by increase of ticket sells if the event is that popular, by getting sponsorships from areas in the state that don't just impact only Auburn." Pointed out Gunter. "If it does touch people besides just Auburn students maybe there need to be other ways of raising the revenue."
Before discussion ended senator Olabode O Anise, Senator for Engineering, pointed out Tiger Stomps importance on Auburn's campus:
"Tiger Stomps is a cultural event to show case a part of campus that in no other event would have the capacity to show case this event."
The bill went on to pass with much of senate urging that the fund be looked at again next year to see if these funds were necessary or if different avenues should be used to raise money for BSU's Tiger Stomp.
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