Undergoing several failed motions and heated discussions, the Student Finance Board motioned to allot funding to CUB for $27,780 to host TCNJ Glow at its meeting this past Wednesday, Sept. 11.
This event was tabled last week, as SFB was not satisfied with the safety details outlined by CUB. They came back to present the event again with the suggested updates of supplying water, bathrooms and extra barricades at the event.
“I was not in favor of this event last week,” operations director Brian Hurler said. “But I am now.”
However, other members of SFB still held their concerns from the previous meeting.
“My biggest problem with this is there is no benefit (to the student body) and it is a rave scene. That’s not what TCNJ is about,” SG representative Tom Verga said. “Just because you add ‘glow’ to something doesn’t mean it’s a benefit.”
Hurler countered saying, “I think the benefit is that it’s a fun event that students will remember for a very long time.”
Sophomore representative Tom Athan agreed.
“I think this is absolutely safer,” Athan said in response to CUB’s changes. “I think TCNJ students are smart and will make good decisions.”
Junior representative Gordon Sayre did not agree.
“We’re all pretty scared that something bad is going to happen,” Sayre said. “I don’t think the risk is worth the reward.”
Senior representative Sam Hoffer felt that the event was too much money for CUB to be asking for out of special appropriation funds, since they had already received a high-volume budget.
However, sophomore representative Christina Grillo, who was unsure of the right decision throughout the discussion, finally took a side.
“With anything you do there’s an inherent risk. Accidents happen and it is a lot of money, but that’s what special appropriations are for and this affects 1,000 people, so I think the money is justified.”
The motion passed by a split vote with the stipulation to raise ticket prices to $15, add $1,000 for an extra barricade, and use leftover money from the fall concert toward funding this event.
It will take place on Saturday, Oct. 12 at 7 p.m. in Lot 12.
However, although CUB narrowly got its way with the funding of TCNJ Glow, they were zero funded by a unanimous vote for “Coffee Town Live with Glenn Howerton and Ben Schwartz” that would require $29,578 in funding.
“I think this $30,000 could be better applied elsewhere,” Hurler said in agreement with Nicholas Ruppino, financial director, who felt that it’s “too similar to the fall lecture, and it would be insane in my mind to spend another $30,000.”
SFB was also presented with a multicultural request by the Eurasia/Middle East Society in hopes of receiving $175 to fund their event “The Voice of Rumi in Poetry and Music: Love, Knowledge and Discipline.”
The event was fully funded and has been scheduled for Monday, Oct. 7 at 7 p.m. in the Library Auditorium.
