News

Previously, on SGA: The Long and Winding Meeting

Kathleen Creedon • April 26, 2018

Tune in each week for Kathleen Creedon’s SGA summaries. SGA meets at 6 p.m. on Mondays in the Waxahachie Room in Coates University Center.

This covers the meeting on April 23.

CAMPUS CLIMATE CHECK

Junior senator Julia Shults, member of the committee created to find a new First-Year Experience coordinator, asked SGA members to reach out to her with any concerns that they might want her to raise at the next committee meeting.

BUDGET FUNDING

Each spring, university-sponsored organizations (USOs) present budget proposal requests to SGA. Unlike registered student organizations (RSOs), which receive funds from the student activity fee (SAF) on a request basis, USOs receive a yearly budget that is funded once for the entire year.

Senators considered how much money would be left for RSOs after funding USO budgets, estimating that the total SAF allotment would be roughly $670,000. After three hours of discussion, SGA senators made their final decisions.

Greek Council requested $34,875, which is $1,200 less than it requested last year. SGA approved the amount of $31,875, cutting $1,000 from their conference budget and $2,000 from their guest speaker budget.

Student Ambassadors requested $30,422, which is $3,580 more than it requested last year. SGA approved the amount of $27,622, decreasing the proposed budget for conferences, cutting $1,000 for I Heart TU week and $200 in the budget for first-year gifts.

Student Programming Board (SPB) requested $216,202.92, which is over $37,500 more than it requested last year. SGA approved the amount of $173,847.92, which includes no funding for the proposed Spring Concert but makes up the $10,000 difference of SPB’s five-year average funding. They denied the $4,500 line-item for shirts.

Trinity Diversity Connection requested $35,042.92, which is the exact amount it requested last year. SGA approved the amount of $32,609.92, reducing the programming budget by $1,500 and Diversity Dialogues budget by a third, $933.

Trinity University Volunteer Action Committee (TUVAC) requested $22,850, which is $1,400 less than it requested last year. SGA approved the amount of $22,350, cutting the costs of shirts in half, $500.

Unlike the previous organizations, Recreational Sports and Campus Publications — including the Trinitonian and Mirage — are not technically USOs. The SGA constitution requires the senate to fund Recreational Sports and Campus Publications at least their five-year average.

The Trinitonian requested $46,650, which is $6,580 more than it requested last year. It also requested an extra $10,000 to pay for advertisements for RSOs. SGA approved the entire budget but did not approve the extra $10,000.

Mirage requested $46,200, which is $4,257.20 more than it requested last year. SGA approved $42,042, reducing the proposed budget by 9 percent.

Recreational Sports requested $213,263, which is $12,242 more than it requested last year. SGA approved $192,435.86, halving an increase in the Club Sports budget from $10,000 to $5,000 and decreasing Outdoor Recreation funding by $1,000.