Spring Break
Budget passes with reserve
by Miranda Neubauer
Senior Writer
News | 3/4/08
Posted online at 4:28 AM EST on 3/4/08
The Union Senate passed a Student Union government operations budget of $30,726.23 Sunday, ending almost a month of deadlock on the issue. Much of the controversy hinged on the delineation of budgets for the various Senate committees and the allocation of $2,500 for an executive board-sponsored party this Saturday.
The Union couldn't come to an agreement before break and rejected an earlier budget proposal. The Senate passed two continuing resolutions Feb. 17 and 24 in order to keep essential government operations running.
"Delaying it any further would have been really bad, and I think that the [time] we spent really discussing it and getting through the nuances was really helpful, because now we have this very good budget," Senator for the Class of 2009 Julia Sferlazzo, who voted in favor of the budget, said. She added that, "eXstaSy is going to be a really good event, and I think it has really solid policy aspects to it."
The e-board's Social Fund asked for the $2,500 to sponsor the event in Sherman Function Hall. The party, called "eXstaSy" is spearheaded by Union Director of Campus Life Christina Khemraj '09.
The aim of eXtaSy, co-sponsored by 22 other clubs, is to assess the impact of 3 a.m. as the ending time, freedom from financial obligations and creative publicity would have on campus social events, Khremraj said last night.
While many committee chairs were in favor of delineating committee budgets, other senators were in favor of Union Treasurer Choon Woo Ha's '08 earlier proposal without delineation and were displeased with his reaction to the opposition. Under that proposal, committee chairs would have proposed their budgets as Senate Money Resolutions.
"As we currently have it with the budget now, we have blocks of money for each committee, and I don't know what it's being spent on," Senator for the Class of 2008 Asher Tanenbaum said. Tanenbaum voted against the budget because he would have preferred committee budgets to be more transparent.
The Union couldn't come to an agreement before break and rejected an earlier budget proposal. The Senate passed two continuing resolutions Feb. 17 and 24 in order to keep essential government operations running.
"Delaying it any further would have been really bad, and I think that the [time] we spent really discussing it and getting through the nuances was really helpful, because now we have this very good budget," Senator for the Class of 2009 Julia Sferlazzo, who voted in favor of the budget, said. She added that, "eXstaSy is going to be a really good event, and I think it has really solid policy aspects to it."
The e-board's Social Fund asked for the $2,500 to sponsor the event in Sherman Function Hall. The party, called "eXstaSy" is spearheaded by Union Director of Campus Life Christina Khemraj '09.
The aim of eXtaSy, co-sponsored by 22 other clubs, is to assess the impact of 3 a.m. as the ending time, freedom from financial obligations and creative publicity would have on campus social events, Khremraj said last night.
While many committee chairs were in favor of delineating committee budgets, other senators were in favor of Union Treasurer Choon Woo Ha's '08 earlier proposal without delineation and were displeased with his reaction to the opposition. Under that proposal, committee chairs would have proposed their budgets as Senate Money Resolutions.
"As we currently have it with the budget now, we have blocks of money for each committee, and I don't know what it's being spent on," Senator for the Class of 2008 Asher Tanenbaum said. Tanenbaum voted against the budget because he would have preferred committee budgets to be more transparent.
Viewing Comments 1 - 7 of 7
False Information
posted 3/04/08 @ 8:31 AM EST
- Identity retreat yielded over 85 attendees
- Special Olympics, later changed to the name "Celebrating Our Youth's Smiles" had over 75 kids participate. (Continued…)
Petty Boys Give Bad Name
posted 3/04/08 @ 3:58 PM EST
There are 3-4 Senators that give us a bad name. They block conversations, attack people who don't agree, tried to degrade our Vice President and continue giving us a bad rapp. (Continued…)
Lazy boys (and girls) give bad name
posted 3/04/08 @ 5:59 PM EST
You're probably referring to Andrew Brooks and Asher as two of the 3-4 that give the senate a bad name because they appeared in the article.
The two of them have perfect attendance at
- Senate meetings
- Office hours
- Senate & Univ committee meetings
The two them have been achieving results for constituents. (Continued…)
"Petty Boys" doesn't know what he/she is talking about
posted 3/04/08 @ 7:17 PM EST
The author of the "Petty Boys" comment ought to get his facts straight. As someone who follows the Union's actions closely, let's examine his/her comments:
"They block conversations, attack people who don't agree, tried to degrade our Vice President and continue giving us a bad rapp. (Continued…)
Union Needs To Get A Clue
posted 3/04/08 @ 9:04 PM EST
Why does the union continue to waste our money planning parties? Isn't that the job of clubs and Student Events? My club wasn't chartered last semester because of a duality of purpose. (Continued…)
No Accountability
posted 3/04/08 @ 10:00 PM EST
I thank Senators Brooks and Tanenbaum for voting against this joke of a budget which lacks transparency and accountability for our dollars. This budget clearly shows that some committee chairs don't want people to know how they spend their money. (Continued…)
Park Benches?
posted 3/08/08 @ 11:47 PM EST
Hasn't this been two years now? I think it's more of a phone call issue than real advocacy. Get some ideas flowing man. Or get it done already for god's sake. (Continued…)
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