The Student Government Associations Sep. 29 meeting had two new orders of business on the night's agenda. The first new order of business was a piece of legislation dealing with the Center of Student Organizations and Welcome Week Organizational Boards guidelines.
The legislation, presented by Katie Nell, Senator at-Large, asked for the approval of the funding for the Organizations' Board, effective for the 2014-2015 year.
Each year, the Center for Student Organizations makes available a limited amount of funds to each Permanent Status student organization to cover some of their operating expenses. Student Organizations may apply for up to $300 a year for their annual operating expenses beginning in August on a first come, first serve basis.
"The $300 is applied for by the organization and the first ones that apply and are fundable programs get it," said Olabode Anise, vice president of SGA. "Then there is the $8,000 that a fundable program can apply for and that has to be approved by the SGA senate."
Organizations must prepare a sample budget for what they would like to receive funding for at the time of the request.
The sample budget will include the amount of money the organization plans to spend on advertising and promotion printing, books and subscriptions, food, or office supplies.
According to the legislation, a fundable program, for the purpose of student activity fee funding, is defined as an educational or service activity held on campus or a service/outreach activity held off-campus.
Fundable programs should: be open to all fee-paying students beyond the membership of the sponsoring student organization(s), provide developmental and educational outcomes for all participants, be broadly marketed, and abide by all guidelines and policies set forth by Auburn University.
Minutes after Nell presented her legislation to the senate, John LeMaster, a senator for the college of engineering, presented an amendment to chapter 808 of the SGA Code of Laws.
The amendment would require the available funds in the Organizations Fund at the beginning of a fiscal year to be no less than $60,000 instead of the current mark of $50,000.
However, the amendment was tabled after Patrick Michael, the senator for the Budget and Finance committee, said the amendment needed to be worked on and that it was not a pressing issue seeing as that money cannot be allocated until the coming Spring.
"I think it may be a little rash to pass this as it stands now," Michael said. " I think that we can make it better for student organizations and according to the code of laws, only a certain percentage of the money can be allocated at this point in the year so we wouldn't put any student organization at a disadvantage right now anyways."
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