Spring Break
Students vote for SAF rollover funds to go toward weight room
by Justine Root
News | 5/20/08
Posted online at 10:54 AM EST on 5/20/08
In a Student Union election held Wednesday, April 30 to determine how to spend approximately $100,000 worth of Student Activities Fee rollover funds, 496 students voted for the option to enhance the weight room in the Gosman Sports and Convocation Center.
The excess money came from funds that have accumulated over the past five years that have not been allocated by the Finance Board to clubs or had been allocated but not spent by various organizations.
Immediate past Student Union President Shreeya Sinha '09 first announced the Union's intention to allow the student body to decide how this money would be spent in an e-mail to students on April 11.
Sinha wrote that the Union would discuss any proposals submitted by students and put the top several ideas up for the vote. Students were encouraged to submit proposals that would enhance the lives of students and ideally be one-time expenditures.
The amount of money available may be less than expected, wrote Dean of Student Life Rick Sawyer in an e-mail to the Justice. In the worst case scenario, the Union may only be able to give the project $50,000, Sawyer said.
Should the weight room prove to be too expensive, the Union would return to the ballot results and choose the most next popular choice that is affordable, Sawyer said.
The winning proposal barely defeated another suggestion submitted by Stephanie Sofer '09, to put solar paneling on a Brandeis building, which received 474 of the 1,325 votes, a difference of .66 percent.
Had the plan to install solar panels prevailed, one of Brandeis' buildings would have been graced with a 17 kilowatt solar photovoltaic system, reducing Brandeis' carbon emissions by 20,000 lbs a year according to the proposal.
In third place was a proposal for renovations to Cholmondeleys submitted by Sarah Richardson, activities advisor for the Department of Student Activities. The proposal received 139 votes.
A proposal for a 10-student trip to Rwanda intended to give students experience in working for sustainable development, submitted by Sam Vaghar '08, came in fourth with 91 votes.
The excess money came from funds that have accumulated over the past five years that have not been allocated by the Finance Board to clubs or had been allocated but not spent by various organizations.
Immediate past Student Union President Shreeya Sinha '09 first announced the Union's intention to allow the student body to decide how this money would be spent in an e-mail to students on April 11.
Sinha wrote that the Union would discuss any proposals submitted by students and put the top several ideas up for the vote. Students were encouraged to submit proposals that would enhance the lives of students and ideally be one-time expenditures.
The amount of money available may be less than expected, wrote Dean of Student Life Rick Sawyer in an e-mail to the Justice. In the worst case scenario, the Union may only be able to give the project $50,000, Sawyer said.
Should the weight room prove to be too expensive, the Union would return to the ballot results and choose the most next popular choice that is affordable, Sawyer said.
The winning proposal barely defeated another suggestion submitted by Stephanie Sofer '09, to put solar paneling on a Brandeis building, which received 474 of the 1,325 votes, a difference of .66 percent.
Had the plan to install solar panels prevailed, one of Brandeis' buildings would have been graced with a 17 kilowatt solar photovoltaic system, reducing Brandeis' carbon emissions by 20,000 lbs a year according to the proposal.
In third place was a proposal for renovations to Cholmondeleys submitted by Sarah Richardson, activities advisor for the Department of Student Activities. The proposal received 139 votes.
A proposal for a 10-student trip to Rwanda intended to give students experience in working for sustainable development, submitted by Sam Vaghar '08, came in fourth with 91 votes.
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