At its first meeting of the semester, Student Federation recognized that it has more money than expected, and it wants students to help decide where to spend it.
This year’s discretionary budget is $20,974. Due money collected from the Skip-A-Meal event, the philanthropy budget is now at $1,712. Treasurer and sophomore David Wilhelmsen attributes this increase to a lack of event proposals, because the federation has not declined any.
Wilhelmsen also found that many checks have been incorrectly entered into the record in past years. He is working with Sue Koppel, executive assistant to the chief administrative officer in the finance department, to correct the books.
“We have more money than we think we do,” Wilhelmsen said. “I have to go over all the past checks.”
The federation hopes that more students will contribute to brainstorming new ideas to improve campus. To encourage involvement, junior independent representative Margaret Danaher proposed a plan for federation members to sit by the comment box every day at lunch on behalf of the campus improvements committee.
“Students don’t even know there is a comment box,” Danaher said. “This will encourage them to place comments.”
Junior Kurt Masciovecchio proposed another plan to encourage students to present their ideas to student fed. The committee wants to create a survey of student life, in which students can rank the areas of campus most in need of improvement. The committee will take this survey into consideration when choosing what to renovate.
“This will provide students with a better opportunity to express what they want,” Masciovecchio said.
President and junior Esther Ashmore agreed with the plan.
“It will let people know we actually do things,” she said with a laugh.
On March 1, three student clubs took advantage of the fed’s enlarged budget and came to request funding for upcoming events.
Junior Daniel Teal, the president of the International Club, requested $1,750 in additional “Genocide Awareness Week” funds to pay for Barbara Elliot, a former Reagan aide, to speak.
Junior Daniel Gaines, president of the Aliaga Foundation chapter on campus, requested $425 for “A Wild Night at the Dawn” held at the Dawn Theatre on March 3. The money was put toward decorations and the venue, and all proceeds will go to an orphanage outside of Lima, Peru.
The Cravats and Bluestockings also requested funding for the annual Regency Ball. Junior Richard Norris and sophomore Kodiak Dschida, on behalf of the club, said he wanted to bring students together in a fun and historical event. Although the federation has always funded the event, Dschida asked student fed to look at the event with fresh eyes and not rest on precedent.
The federation unanimously decided to approve all three requests.
Student fed also swore in two new members, junior Olivia File and sophomore Viktor Rozsa, to fill the vacant independent representative seats (Teal resigned after rushing Sigma Chi fraternity). The other seat belonged to junior Kokko Sinapi Chou, who stepped down because he was too busy to adequately perform his duties, Ashmore said.
