The Undergraduate Student Government senate approved the Cheerleading Asset Grant Act, the Taiko Tides Appropriations Act and the Men’s Lacrosse Appropriations Act on Thursday evening.
USG Executive Vice President Krisly Zamor began the meeting with a minute of silence to acknowledge the victims of the shooting that occurred on Oregon’s Umpqua Community College campus earlier that day. After that moment, Zamor continued the meeting according to the agenda.
USG Treasurer Taylor Bouraad explained that the Cheerleading Asset Grant Act of 2015 allows the Cheerleading team to apply for an asset grant in order to purchase new uniforms for its growing membership. In 2013, the Cheerleading team received an asset grant of $5,913.54 to purchase uniforms for the team.
Team members approached the Grant Committee this semester to apply for another asset grant, but the committee found them ineligible to apply. Under the USG financial bylaws, the team has to wait six semesters to apply for another asset grant as the 2013 asset grant was over $4,000, and only four semesters have passed since the allocation of the grant.
Sen. Alexander Bouraad expressed concern regarding allowing teams to make appeals that temporarily suspend the financial bylaws.
He said that by “temporarily suspending parts of the financial bylaws, that shows to clubs and organizations that we have that ability and that we are willing to bend the rules for certain clubs and not others.”
Treasurer Bouraad explained that each appeal is made on a case-by-case basis and told the senators to take the senate’s standards from previous years into consideration.
She said “during the budget hearings last year—you guys know I was a budget committee senator—for almost every club that applies for new uniforms without looking at their history, we said we’re gonna cut uniforms from your budget because you can apply for an asset grant.”
She added that there may have been miscommunication or that the Cheerleading team had a lack of education on the new financial bylaws.
Sen. Bouraad that the Cheerleading team’s 2013 executive board should have taken the team’s growing numbers into consideration when it applied for the grant in 2013.
“Every time somebody comes and asks for more money, we are constantly under, we scrutinize them if they try to allocate for more that what they need at that time,” Senator Tara Shinasi said in response to Sen. Bouraad’s statement. “So I don’t think that they could account for potentially having more members in the future.”
Treasurer Bouraad noted that USG is supposed to help clubs function. The senate approved the Cheerleading Asset Grant Act with a vote of 12-2-5. The Cheerleading Asset Grant Act is valid for two weeks.
Taiko Tides, a traditional Japanese drumming club, requested a line budget, and after several budget hearings, the budget committee determined that $1,644.39 should be allotted to the club. Sen. Maximillian Shaps, who is a member of the budget committee, said that there is full confidence that Taiko Tides will be able to fulfill its mission statement and that the club will use the budget that was granted to it. The senate approved the Taiko Tides Appropriations Act by a unanimous vote.
The Men’s Lacrosse Appropriations Act granted $3,425 to the Men’s Club Lacrosse team. The senate unanimously approved the act by a standing vote.
