The Student Government Association had a small agenda for their April 14 senate meeting. While the agenda was small, the requests were quite large.
The first new order of business on the agenda was an expansion fund request in the amount of $10,000 for the Center for Student Organization and Welcome Week Program. The Center for Student Organization provides opportunities for students to get plugged in with over 400 registered student organizations in order to enhance the Auburn experience.
The Center for Student Organization is responsible for putting on Welcome Week which is the designated period to welcome Auburn University's new and returning students to campus fall semester. Welcome Week is packed with over 50 events on campus ranging from the Block Party, pep rally and free movie, to outdoor activities, community service events and class tours.
According to Dillon Nettles, a senator for the College of Liberal Arts, the O-board is lacking sufficient funds to get them through October which is a problem for many on-campus organizations.
"This is really important for all of the organizations that are not SAP because they have to come to the O-board to request funding for travel vouchers or events for the organizations or things like that." Nettles said. "They have $5,000 to get them from August to October, and currently they spend about $3,000 to $5,000 a hearing and they have four hearings left."
The motion carried.
The second request came in the form of a $35,000 reserve fund request for the Student Media WEGL Radio Tower transmitter. The stations programming is broadcast at 3,000 watts from the Auburn's tallest building, the Haley Center.
There are a number of reasons for the relocation of WEGL 91.1 radio tower. However, President Jay Gogue's 10-year plan for the Haley Center to come down plays a large part in the decision to move the tower.
Another reason for a new transmitter came in the form of a report by an engineer nearly a year ago which stated that the transmitter only had months to a year left prior to failing, which could cost WEGL fines implemented by the FCC.
After many senators questioned whether or not to pass the bill which would grant WEGL the $35,000 for a new transmitter, Justin Matthews, a senator for the College of Architecture, Design and Construction, managed to persuade his fellow senators to pass the bill.
"This is $35,000 that is going to last us 25 years," Matthews said." Just from the internet alone, there's an average of about 3,500 people listening a month. We give UPC over a $500,000 budget for one concert that only has 4,600 tickets reserved for students. So, it's not like something we haven't done before. This compared to that is just tiny."
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