Stony Brook University’s Undergraduate Student Government (USG) Senate gathered on Thursday, Sept. 19 for their weekly senate meeting, with a focus on making amendments to the financial bylaws, specifically regarding travel grants.
At-large Senator Eesha Uddin proposed a resolution to modify the financial bylaws so that Registered Student Organizations (RSOs) no longer would be subjected to a budgetary limit of per person when submitting travel grants. Moreover, if RSOs submitted a travel grant that exceeded a certain total, the request would then have to be approved by the Senate.
The current $200 cap per person led to unnecessary Senate reviews. The resolution aims to streamline the process by removing the cap, ensuring equitable distribution of funds, and reducing Senate oversight.
“We realized that that was just wasting a lot of time in Senate […] to look over different budget grant applications. We, as Budget Grant [Committee], felt that it’s the best that we try to increase the cap,” Uddin said when presenting the resolution.
The Budget Grant Committee had proposed the Legislative and Vetting Committee (LegVet) to have a $300 cap per person for travel grants. With the suggestions of LegVet, it was decided to remove the cap altogether, so any travel grant cost per person does not require Senate approval.
However, any travel grant request exceeding $4,500 must still be reviewed by the Senate. The total cap for any travel grant still remains at $10,000.
USG President Nistha Boghra brought up the context of why the cap existed in the first place, focusing on the proper distribution of student fees.
“Three years ago when the cap was first put in, the reason behind it was [that] each student is paying a $106.50 activity fee. So, if more than a single person’s yearly student activity fee is going to another single person’s traveling, then it deserves a little extra eyes on it,” Boghra said.
Uddin also brought up another resolution to the Senate. This resolution focused on acknowledging the increasing prices RSOs are experiencing when traveling.
The current $200 per person cap was proposed to be increased to $300 to better accommodate travel expenses. Concerns were raised about the impact on clubs, especially sports clubs, and the need for flexibility. It was noted that travel costs often exceed $200, averaging $250-$350 per person.
At-large Senator Richard Vatawat mentioned his experience as a club leader and how the cap affected their spending over the year.
“Both clubs, when they put a request in in the spring, said they were doing a trip that was spending more than 200 per person. Now we can’t use the money on that, even though we got approved for money for that purpose, very bizarre,” Vatawat said.
At-large Senator Peter Joyce brought up the beneficial aspect of the cap, as it allows the clubs to utilize more of their line budget, rather than requesting grants for every event.
USG Treasurer Bonnie Wong mentioned that the Senate only has a finite amount of budget that they can distribute throughout the year, and with the grants they have been approving, their budget may not last to the end of the year.
The Senate agreed on a $300 cap but debated on whether to allow exceptions at the discretion of the Treasury office.
USG Executive Vice President Ray Chen called the conversation to a close, stating that the amendment still had to be looked over by LegVet.
“Right now, we’re keeping the $300, we’re adding a stipulation saying exemptions can be made at the Office of Treasury,” Chen said.
The Senate agreed to table the vote on the resolution until the following week to allow more time for consideration and input from clubs.
