The new members of the Student Government Association presented nine out of 16 clubs with additional funding during Monday night's yearly budget appeal meeting.
Each of the clubs and organization came before the SGA to plead their case for additional budgetary funding, either because they would like more money than they were allocated or because they were not allocated a budget at all due to lack of representation at the Seton Hall Leadership Institute treasurer session and/or failure to submit a budget proposal.
The nine organizations granted more funding were the Student Occupational Therapy Association, receiving $500, the Jewish Student Union, receiving $500, the Criminal Justice Association, receiving $250, the English Club, receiving $500, French Club, receiving $375, Mock Trial, receiving $1,000, Colleges Against Cancer, receiving $1,000, Classics Club, receiving $300 and the Anime Club, receiving an additional $100, bringing their total budget allocation to $340.
Clubs that were kept at their current budget allocations were the Student Social Work Association at $250, Net Impact at $300, the Public Relations Student Society of America at $500 and the Political Science Student Association was kept at its allocation of $0.
"Due to the fact that they spent $0, we are restricted by our bylaws to give them $0," explained Executive Board Treasurer Mark Buryk.
Regardless of tier status, all clubs are encouraged to go to the Finance Committee for funding for specific events and programs.
"Finance Committee is always there," Finance Committee Chair and Arts and Sciences Sen. Will DeCotiis said. "The door is always open."
The Black Student Union came to the SGA Monday night to appeal for consideration for Tier IV status. BSU has already been allocated $1,000, the maximum budget allocation for a Tier III club. Clubs and organizations in Tier IV may receive up to $3,000.
In order to vote BSU as a Tier IV club, the Senate would need to remove Tier IV status from one of the five clubs already granted it for the coming year: Adelante, Alpha Phi Omega, Gospel Choir, MLKSA and the Slavic Club.
While recognizing they are a prominent and active club on campus, the SGA voted to keep BSU at Tier III, DeCotiis said. "There was a definite slip-off from last year, and that's why they didn't get the status they were looking for."
Two clubs were tabled until next week's meeting. The Ecology club, requesting $1,000, as they received last year, has been put on hold because of very recent spending for various programs that has not been updated to the SGA treasurer's records as of Monday's meeting.
The African Student Association was tabled because of financial records as well. ASA currently owes the SGA $500. ASA makes regular deposits, so the SGA voted to table the appeal until financial records were confirmed. ASA also requested $1,000.
Next week's meeting will be the last for the SGA until the Fall semester.
Katherine O'Brien can be reached at Katherine.obrien@student.shu.edu.
