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Friday,
April 2, 2004 |
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New
money-request system to be proposed
The
Student Government Association has received a greater
number of requests for money from student organizations
this year than in past years.
By
Erin Baethge and Erin Clark
A new
system for money requests from the Student Government
Association may be proposed sometime this semester, because
the number of student organizations asking for money has
increased over the last year, said Treasurer David Watson.
If enacted, the new system would require student organizations
to submit money requests by a deadline, such as April
1, so the House of Student Representatives could review
the requests and allocate the budget more effectively,
said Watson, chairman of the Finance Committee.
“The entire idea is just an idea,” Watson said
of the system he has started to plan. “It will be
changed through the planning stages of it.”
Currently, the House sets the budget, which goes into
effect June 1, before receiving any money requests, which
makes it difficult to predict how much money should be
allocated for each fund, Watson said.
“For example, we don’t know how much to set
aside for the conventions and conferences fund because
we don’t know how many groups will ask for money,”
Watson said.
Currently, both the conventions and conferences fund and
the special projects fund, which are the two funds set
aside for student organizations, are depleted because
of two bills passed at Tuesday’s SGA meeting.
The House spent all $12,000 allocated to the special projects
fund, meaning approximately an additional $12,500 will
be taken from the general reserve fund to fund special
projects, Watson said. The House also gave out approximately
$6,700 for organizations to go to conferences and conventions,
$500 more than the $6,200 allocated in their budget. The
extra amount also came from the general reserve fund,
he said.
The general reserve fund is composed of the surpluses
from other budgets and currently contains about $120,000,
Watson said.
The new system would help alleviate the problem of depleted
funds and allow the House to be more fair in giving because
there would be a greater chance that funds would be available,
Watson said.
“Everyone always compares the amounts the House gives
out,” Watson said. “People wonder why we give
more to one organization and not another.”
Also, the new system would allow all bills to be reviewed
equally, Watson said.
“Bills presented early in the semester receive more
favor because the funds aren’t dwindling,” Watson
said. “The bills presented toward the end of the
semester don’t receive as good of treatment.”
President Jay Zeidman said money requests have increased
because of the Communications Committee’s efforts
and the TCU Daily Skiff’s coverage of SGA events.
Corrie Lockhart, chairwoman of the Communications Committee,
echoed Zeidman’s reasons for the increase in money
requests.
“Our committee has worked hard on publicizing how
SGA can meet the needs of student organizations,”
Lockhart said.
As a part of the committee’s efforts, an assessment
survey was sent to all the presidents of student organizations
in mid-January that gave an overview of SGA, informed
the leaders about how SGA can serve their groups and asked
leaders about their individual organization’s goals.
“This helped us get a better feel for the organizations,”
Lockhart said. “We told them about our open-office
policy and made them aware that we are available to help
them.”
Also, the communications committee has done “pop-ins,”
or personal visits, to many organizations’ meetings.
The “Have It Your Way” campaign from March 1-5
also helped spread the word about SGA, Lockhart said.
As part of the campaign, a party took place in the basement
of the Student Center for all student organizations. This
gave SGA another opportunity to talk with members of various
organizations, she said.
The committee’s efforts appear to be paying off and
the Finance Committee has felt the impact.
Watson, who is a second-year Finance Committee member,
said the committee discusses three to four bills per week,
compared to one or two per week last year.
“We’ve never been this busy,” Watson said.
Ziedman said he is excited to see students thinking on
a larger financial scale.
“We want kids to bombard us with money requests,”
Zeidman said. “Last year, student organizations would
ask for $1,000 or less. It’s not like that this year.”
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