The Student Assembly requested an allocation of $68,250 for its 2006-2007 budget from the Undergraduate Finance Committee last Tuesday.
Student Body President-Elect Tim Andreadis '07 led members Chris Bertrand '07, Leslie Shribman '08 and Dave Zubricki '07 in the Assembly's presentation to the UFC. The group petitioned roughly 76 percent of this year's Assembly budget of $89,700.
"We tried to get as close as possible to [a budget of] $65,000. That's what Tim wanted," Zubricki said. "Tim wanted to ask for less money so that the extra money would go to [the Council on Student Organizations] for club sports."
COSO is technically not allowed to fund club sports, however, according to member Libby Sherman '06.
"Currently we do not fund club sports because they do not fall under our jurisdiction," Sherman said.
Though, according to several members, COSO does not intend to support club sports next year, "We will, however, fund events that raise money and have typically been conducted through the Tucker Foundation. There are many organizations that come to us for support for events that raise money and we have always had to turn them away. Now, we have the money and will change our constitution so we can help out these groups and events," Sherman said.
Although the nearly $22,000 decrease did not cut the Assembly budget in half as Andreadis promised to do during his campaign, he said that the budget could not be further reduced for practical reasons.
"We looked at the budget at what we could cut and what we couldn't," he said. "I've had to advocate very strongly to get cut what I could get cut. It was really looking at what our priorities are."
The proposal included priorities such as a $3,000 allotment for the maintenance and purchase of BlitzMail terminals -- a $1,200 increase from this year's budget. Though an important aspect of Andreadis' campaign, the proposal lists a smaller figure of $2,000 for a sexual assault awareness campaign.
"Effectiveness with sexual assault has nothing to do with money and everything to do with the level of effort and students holding each other accountable," Andreadis said. "A lot of the money is about publications, whether that involves bringing in a speaker, working with [Sexual Assault Peer Advisors] or [Mentors Against Violence] on a lot of their programming initiatives. It may involve zoning in."
Andreadis' presentation also called for $300 to create a gender-neutral housing initiative, which he said will build a report of student opinions on the controversial issue.
Notably absent from the proposal was an allocation of money for the discounted holiday bus services to New York City and Boston, which cost the Assembly $3,500 and drew strong reviews in recent years. Andreadis said that the program is not necessarily discontinued, though.
"Just because an item isn't listed on the proposal doesn't mean it's been cut," he said. "It's a great initiative we want to continue."
The proposal also called for increased funding for the student-faculty spring brunch and the Peer Academic Link program for incoming freshmen.
"A lot of the numbers that go into these proposals are about improving the programs we already have," Andreadis said. "We want to have that money there if we make changes."
Andreadis also emphasized that the proposal is not set in stone.
"The proposal is based on past initiatives and future initiatives and, by all means, is not supposed to be all-encompassing," he said. "A number of the programs might not end up happening."
Andreadis also led his first Assembly meeting as the student body president-elect last Thursday.
The 15 members who attended the meeting, which began with discrepancies over voting procedure and eligibility, voted Allen Buansi '09, Chrissie Chick '07, Lee Cooper '09 and Jaromy Sporen '08 into the Membership and Internal Affairs Committee.
Correction Appended
For the record::The headline for an article on Monday ("SA requests $68,000 for 2005-06 academic year," May 22) should have read, "SA requests $68,000 for 2006-07 acaemic year."
