Luke Garrison, senior communication studies major, and Shawn Grygo, senior dance major, have presided over a difficult beginning of their tenure as Student Senate Co-Presidents. Controversy has surrounded student organization finances and the amount of money the Student Senate has allocated thus far for the Fall Semester. The Senate is also considering a new constitution that would reduce the number of senators and change the face of Senate.
Finance
Most of the controversy this year stems from confusion last spring about the proper way to allocate money to student groups. However, Vice-President of Finance and Junior Management Major Ashley Melville also said that the organization is facing more students groups asking for more money in a difficult economy.
“We have a greater number of student groups coming to us for funding and each student group is asking for more funding than they have in the past,” said Melville, “but the number of students putting into the contingency fund has not changed.”
However, some senators believe that poor planning has led Senate into its current problems.
“Going into budgeting without a clear picture of our finances was irresponsible and forced us to make decisions on the fly, as opposed to seeing the budget as a whole; good organizations are going to see their budgets cut,” said Senator Ryan Dobbs, a senior biochemistry and molecular biology major. “Previous Senates have really left us in a bind.”
Melville didn’t release the amount left in the contingency fund at the last meeting pending revisions due to September financing, but the number released at the last meeting was around $24,642. Senate is required to leave at least $10,000 unallocated in the Fall Semester for use in Spring Semester. At this point of the semester in past years, Senate has had between $60,000 and $90,000 left unallocated.
At the end of each year, Senate reclaims unused money to reallocate for the next year. However, no Senate in recent memory has had this small of an amount left for the rest of the year.
“In my opinion, [having $25,000 left this year is] about $45,000 short of where they should be. At the same time, they are dealing with more student groups and more money being requested from those groups. On top of all of that, [Student Senate’s part of the] student government fee hasn’t gone up in about five years,” said former Student Senate Co-President Chris Edelbrock. “The real challenge now is going to be telling groups that need and deserve the money that they don’t have enough.”
Melville hopes that a change in the way Senate handles its finances will help the Senate reclaim some money at the end of the semester.
“This year, we are going to have very strict recision guidelines. I will send out an e-mail at the end of Fall Semester saying, ‘Anything that was allocated for a fall event should have been spent already, and you have until the end of January Term to turn in a Request for Payment,'” said Melville. “By the end of the first week of Spring Semester, I will have done all of the rescissions.”
Normally, student groups submit budgets to the Senate Finance Committee, who meet with leaders of the group to discuss the budget. From that meeting, the Finance Committee makes a recommendation to the full Senate, which may change the allocation as it sees fit. Once Senate votes to allocate the money, groups may return to request more money from them.
Constitution
Senate has also begun considering a new constitution for the body. This move also grew out of confusion among last year’s Senate.
Last year, controversy arose when changes made within Senate were called into question. One of these changes, which allowed first-year students to run for the Co-President, led to a new co-presidential election this fall. Senators hope that adopting a new constitution will clear up any confusion.
“The old constitution was not taken care of very well; it was run-down. It didn’t have a good system set up. It had a system that worked, but it wasn’t a very cohesive system that worked together in optimal form,” said Junior Political Science Major Nick Harper, who served on the Constitution Committee. “This new constitution set up a system with lots of checks and balances, so that people are kept accountable and work efficiently.”
The new constitution, if adopted, would reduce the number of seats on Senate by nine.
This would be accomplished by reducing the number of representatives from individual dorms and cutting in half the number of representatives from each class.
“We’re creating a leaner Senate that makes it easier for students to take leadership roles,” said Senior Political Science Major and Senate Communications Director Nick Stramp, who also served on the committee that wrote the new constitution.
The constitution would also establish committees to handle Senate’s elections and student finances. The Ethics Committee, which would ensure fair elections, grew out of a controversy over last year’s elections. Accusations of improper and unfair campaigning, as well as confusion over the composition of Senate’s ad hoc Ethics Committee surrounded that election and resulted in calls for new rules regarding Senate elections. The new constitution also created a new position – Ombudsperson – to chair the committee and serve as a neutral observer who ensures Senate follows the rules laid out in the new constitution.
“Ombudsperson is an outside person looking in on Senate and chairs the Ethics Committee. [He or she makes] sure the Senators are staying in line and that the whole process is going well,” said Stramp.
Outside of the Ethics and Finance Committees, however, there are no other permanent committees, a significant change for Senate.
“It will help make sure all the senators feel a strong connection to Senate and are able to consistently stay involved and be working on tasks they are excited about,” said Sophomore Kim Braun, who served on the Constitution Committee.