The Student Finance Board (SFB) debated how to spend the remaining $4,500 in its conference request line at its meeting last week. The Technology Education Society (TES) received $800 of a $1,590 request with a 8-6 vote, while the Minority Association of Pre-Health Students (MAPS) received its entire $544 request with a 10-3-1 vote.
The board's job in allocating conference money was made somewhat easier when Craig Gross, SFB chairperson, announced that he would be adding $3,000 to the conference request line from the Celebration of the Arts budget, which was not fully used this year. He asked, though, that the board not use all $3,000 at that one meeting.
Fred Figliano, TES president, sought funds for the organization's annual conference in Virginia Beach from Feb. 17-19. At the Technology Education Collegiate Association 2005 Eastern Regional Conference, Figliano said that the club's 31 attending members will participate in job fairs as well as competitive events that would raise the College's profile.
Bill Carroll, director of finance, was critical of College departments that do not offer financial support for student organizations closely related to a major.
"Just because they don't have money, why do they think we have money?" he asked.
Julia Pratt, director of communications, defended the club, saying that TES only asks for this one conference each year.
"This is the purpose of their club," she said. "This is what they do. We see the same clubs in here and we keep giving them (money)."
While the board seemed to reach a consensus that the proposed $65 personal contribution needed to be raised, the question was how high it should go.
A motion to give the organization $1,249 and raise the contribution to $75 failed 6-8, and the board finally passed an $85 personal contribution by an 8-6 vote.
MAPS, on the other hand, was able to secure a significant amount of outside funding for its trip to St. Louis for the "Show Me Success" conference from Mar. 24-27.
Kobina Wilmot, MAPS president, explained that he secured $2,718 from the office of Academic Career Enhancement for five MAPS students to attend the conference. The club also got another $1,200 from the Center for Academic Success to subsidize the trip.
The board praised the organization's ability to get outside funding rather than rely totally on SFB funds.
"I'm really happy they realized that money is tight and they got grants," Erica Klazmer, freshman representative, said.
Because of the grants, five of the students will attend with no personal contribution, while the other five will pay $50 to attend. Pratt said she didn't think this was fair.
Gross said the grants were most likely need-based, which is why some students had to pay while others were fully subsidized.
By a unanimous vote, Intervarsity Christian Fellowship's (IV) request for $225 to host its senior retreat was zero-funded.
Jamie Gruskos, IV outreach director, said that the club wanted money to give a $100 gift to the family whose house it is using for the retreat and $75 to give a gift to their alumni speaker. The group also requested $200 to cover food costs for the weekend.
Ravi Kaneriya, Student Government Association representative, said that the costs were not concrete and moved for zero-funding.
IV did receive full funding for a $603 request for Jesus Awareness Week, which Gruskos said is to raise awareness of Christianity and Jesus on campus. The money will go toward food for events and a performance by a band from the Dominican Republic.
The board voted unanimously to give Beta Beta Beta, the College's biology honors society, $568 for guest lecturer Mark Hughes to speak at the College on Mar. 18. Hughes will discuss the scientific and ethical issues surrounding pre-implantation genetic diagnosis.
The board also gave the College Union Board (CUB) $310 for a bus trip to Lucky Chang's, a New York City restaurant.
To better evaluate how much Gospel Choir Ministries has remaining in its budget, the board tabled a $5,286 request from the organization for its annual bus tour.
The board also tabled the request in order to check how much SFB would have in its special appropriations line after the $3,000 is transferred from the Celebration of the Arts account.
