The Business and Finance Committee at Eastern Michigan University began their meeting on Jan. 28 with a student organization budget of $23,462.41. They allocated a total of $4,316.19 to student organizations by the end of the meeting.
Student organizations requesting allocations included BSU/NAACP/NPHC, Model UN, Zeta Sigma Chi, Kings of Color, AMPlifying The Arts and National Society of Black Accountants. Although the Ballroom Dance Club & Swing Society requested allocations, no representative appeared which constituted grounds for immediate rejection.
The Black Student Union, the NAACP and the NPHC representatives requested $1,375 for their Black Leadership Summit on Feb. 1 and received unanimous approval. In total, the organization has previously raised $10,000 for the event.
The Black Leadership Summit is intended “to help students develop their leadership skills for not only campus positions but within the community as well,” according to Kyra Mitchell, Vice President of the BSU.
Model UN representatives requested $1,602 for future conferences in February and received unanimous approval having already fundraised $2,500 themselves.
Kings of Color requested $565.32 for their event Pamper Her and $80 for their event Moments of Color. Their request for $80 was denied with only one yes from Senator Cooley. As for their event Pamper Her, the amount was amended to $339.19 and allocated with unanimous approval. Director Muhammed Aggour also added the organization could have done more fundraising.
“I would like to echo what [Director Aggour] mentioned. Given the number of orgs that are here today, I think we should definitely focus our fire on some of the larger-ticket items and that definitely seems what the Pamper Her event will be in comparison to [Moments of Color] so I would just echo that and agree entirely,” commented Senator Gallouzo.
AMPlifying the Arts requested $850 for traveling expenses. Director Aggour reminded the organization that the student government cannot allocate money for travel expenses, amending the amount to $360. Although, the amount was disapproved unanimously leaving the organization with no allocations this week.
“I think that our focus should be on events that are happening in the near future. Given that this particular event isn’t happening until the middle of March, I think that there's plenty of time in there to either do a little bit more fundraising or come back to us for additional funding at future meetings if that's necessary. So I think going with what we discussed previously, it's still reasonable given the circumstances,” explained Sen. Gallouzo.
Director Aggour added that the committee would like to see more fundraising efforts before returning to request more allocations.
Lastly, The National Society of Black Accountants requested $1000 in allocations for their dining etiquette event. The allocation was approved unanimously.
The remaining budget for student organizations amounts to $19,146.22 as of Jan. 28.
