Senate passes new budget
By Erin Golden
Flat Hat Staff Writer
The Student Assembly Senate met Wednesday to discuss a number of issues, including the proposed budget for the coming year and a resolution on Burma divestment.
Senior Dheeraj Jagadev, chair of the senate, opened the meeting and then gave the floor to senior Elections Chair Sen. Lisa Keller.
Keller discussed her frustrations with the senate's handling of the elections, which were originally scheduled for March 20 but were moved to March 27 due to problems with candidates turning information in to the Student Information Network after the deadline, according to Keller.
The senate had previously passed a resolution regarding the elections allowing three candidates to submit information after the deadline. Keller felt that the decision had been made improperly by the senate, saying that the organization was not under their control.
"I think we need to be extremely more careful when we pass resolutions because the ramifications that occur from these resolutions do have real impacts on other people," Keller said.
Senior Sen. Andrew Casteel, who had presented the resolution, said that he felt the decision was legitimate.
"I was notified that other people had turned in their 150-word statement after the deadline," he said. "If that was a specific deadline and you were holding everyone to the same accountability, then I definitely would not have presented this resolution, but that didn't hold true."
The next item on the agenda was a discussion on the proposed Burma Divestment Resolution. The resolution outlines the human rights violations occurring in Burma under the nation's military junta and that ruling body's links to a number of corporations. The resolution called for the College to end its investments in General Motors/Suzuki and Caterpillar, corporations that are currently in business with the ruling regime in Burma.
Senior Jon Heifetz of Amnesty International gave a presentation on the situation in Burma and the proposals for divestment. Heifetz mentioned that several campus groups, including Focus on Asian Cultures Emerging in Society, Student Environmental Action Committee and Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance have passed resolutions supporting divestment, and other groups are in the process of voting on similar resolutions.
"We're not asking the College to suffer financially," Heifetz said. "We're just asking them to invest in a socially responsible manner."
The resolution was passed in a 9-0-3 vote.
After some brief remarks from junior SA President Brian Cannon, a resolution drafted by junior Sen. Marc Johnson regarding the senate's ability to approve resolutions without more input from outside sources was presented and approved in a 9-2-3 vote.
"The resolution allows the senate to send [a resolution] elsewhere or directly amend it on the floor if the senate feels it is in the best interest of the student body," Johnson said.
The budget for the coming year was presented by Cannon, who outlined the reallocations made after the budget was moved from the SA Finance Committee.
A total of $18,688 was reallocated, including $5,732 to multicultural groups, $5,100 to the DoG Street Journal, $5,087 to a Speaker's Fund of the Special Event Fund, $2000 to the Class of 2004 for a tent at a dance to be held shortly before Commencement and $768.68 to the graduate division of the Publications Council.
The redistributed money was drawn from a number of areas, including $10,500 from UCAB's speaker's fund and an over-projection of comedian's lodging, $2,928.25 from the Multicultural Special Activities Fund, $595 from the Campus Events Special Activities Fund and $928 from the New Groups Special Activities Fund. Additionally, the budget included a two percent cut in funding to the Publications Council totaling $3,736.90.
The senate debated a number of proposals on the budget. Of particular interest was the $10,000 being reallocated away from UCAB's speaker's fund.
After a short recess, where senators and even non-senators, who attended the meeting, voiced their opinions, the budget was voted on and passed by an 11-3-0 margin.
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