The Student Association assembly finished budget approvals at 6:30 a.m. Thursday, after holding the meeting for more than nine hours straight.

After SA and other students at the meeting debated over the first 35 budget proposals for about four hours, President Andrew Lederman asked that only the bills pertaining to the student organizations present be presented to the assembly. Following these bills, the assembly was able to move along faster due to the lack of debate from the gallery, according to Comptroller Maggie Misztal.

‘I was extremely impressed and satisfied because of the way the meeting ran,’ said SA Vice President Travis Mason. ‘The assembly took into consideration a lot of the concerns of the students.’

Wednesday night’s budget meeting raised doubts as to whether or not the budget process is conducive to the needs of SU students and student organizations.

Misztal said because of the current system, it is impossible to be consistent and fund student groups fairly because large organizations such as University Union take money from the same pool as the several other smaller organizations.

‘The structure is not set up to allow both small and large funding to happen fairly,’ Misztal said. ‘When these two types of funding are coming out of the same pot it puts the finance board in a tough situation.’

Instead of drawing from the student fee, Misztal said UU should have its own fee included in the tuition. With its own dedicated fund, UU will in turn be made more accountable than other smaller organizations.

Mason concurred with Misztal’s assertion that UU should be funded by a separate pool of money, adding that minority groups are the ones getting hurt financially much of the time.

‘A lot of the time the smaller organizations are also the minority organizations,’ Mason said. ‘It’s not on purpose, but it’s just the process.’

Thifa Charles, the comptroller for the Caribbean Student Association, said Wednesday that there is a double standard with SA when it comes to giving budgets to UU.

‘UU is a student organization and needs to apply to the same laws,’ she said.

After much protest against the proposed $150,000 allocation to UU for its annual block party Wednesday night, SA decided to send the budget back to the finance board for reconsideration.

But UU and other student organizations still awaiting a final figure will have to wait until next semester to find out.

Misztal said that since the budgets were pushed back, Andrew Urankar will have to hold deliberations in January to discuss new recommendations when he takes over as comptroller.

‘(UU) will definitely get something (for Block Party) because it’s a university tradition,’ Misztal said. ‘It’s been happening for years.’

Hillel was another large student organization that was allocated no money from the finance board for its speaker program. Misztal said this was because the group only supplied figures, and not specific names of speakers that would cost between $30,000 and $50,000.

‘Hillel didn’t give us enough options,’ Misztal said. ‘We couldn’t write a blank check.’

The SA assembly did vote down the finance board’s proposal, and Hillel’s budget will go under review again in January.

Morgan Brodey, the vice president of Hillel, said the reason for the budget cut was because of a miscommunication between her and the finance board. She suggested the finance board begin its deliberations early in the semester so as to avoid such conflicts.

‘I don’t have a problem with the finance board,’ Brodey said. ‘I think there needs to be a more personal connection between groups and the board.’

Published on December 29, 2004 at 12:00 pm