Debate over the spring semester budget for Black Womyn’s Weekend continued with the presentation of another presidential veto of the Appropriations Act to the USG Senate.
Nia Romain was at the Senate meeting to represent the club. When asked by the Senate to elaborate on concerns about the budget, she said, “Already we’re struggling with the budget that we have and for it to be cut by a significant amount, it’s really not going to be conducive to the things we have planned for the semester…Our budget is still frozen right now.”
Romain added that BWW’s events are highly attended in the fall and spring and the reason for not spending the budget was due to “flukes” in Campusvine (used for the process of getting money for clubs) and “miscommunication.”
In order for clubs to be eligible for USG funding, they must meet requirements of the financial bylaws, such as having a “functional E-Board.” The club was missing one member, their treasurer, from the e-board on Campusvine, which was considered in their budget cut. Romain explained to the Senate that attempts were made to add a member, but complications with Campusvine and timing prevented registration and submitting vouchers for fall events.
Lubitz explained to USG why she vetoed the Appropriations Act for BWW, saying “ultimately, I found it to be miscommunication on USG’s end from the get-go.” She cited how the club tried to contact USG through a “dead” e-mail address, calling the club “proactive” for trying to get a voucher on Campusvine and later directly contacting the USG treasurer when no answer was received from the USG website.
Lubitz said, “They weren’t like any other club that just didn’t try.”
The amount being cut from BWW’s budget was discussed after a suggestion for a ten percent cut that Lubitz said would be “more flexible” for the club.
Senator Brian McIlvian mentioned in the debate whether to override the veto that the cuts chosen by the Budget Committee, for there to be no budget or instead 30 percent cuts, were numbers that could be justified.
Senator Priya Sohi stated, “The financial bylaw says that if you break the rule, you’re going down to zero.”
She explained that it was discussed that not all clubs know about the rules; it would be sympathetic to instead give percentage cuts. She added that any other percentage cut is “not going to make any sense.”
The Senate overturned the veto in a two-thirds majority vote. This means that the Appropriations Act calling for a 30 percent cut of BWW’s budget passed.
The meeting included vetting new members for the Election Board. Jacqueline Wall, a freshman, was added to the Board.
Junior Katie Wong, was not vetted after discussion surrounding the need for new members (the minimum is 5, current membership is 6), as well as concerns over conflict of interest for knowing the Election Board Chair.
The chair, Jillian Genco, defended Katie Wong as her one of her choices saying, “It wasn’t exactly a biased decision,” and adding that she did not initially know that Wong was applying for the position.
Senator Ken Myers stated in the discussion, “I don’t think that hiring the friends of current members of the USG has worked in our favor this year.”
The meeting’s open agenda brought to attention a USG Town Hall meeting that will be held on Wednesday, March 13 from 12p.m. to 1p.m. It will be open for students to ask questions of USG members to understand what is going on with SBU’s student government.
