SAMANTHA BLONS
News Assistant
ArAll aspects of the fall 2006 SGA budget passed unanimously at the meeting last night. The budget this semester is based on a total revenue of $69,872, more than two-thirds of which comes from this semester’s student fees.
Vice President of Finance Peter Duby led the bi-annual budget meeting, which lasted less than one hour. Over the past several years, this meeting lasted two to three hours because “usually it’s more contested,” said Duby.
Ryan Harvey, SGA vice president of administration, said this budget proposal was less contested because last semester’s changes in the SGA Constitution “fixed the budget issues we had in the past.”
Of the $60 semester student activities fee charged to the account of each full-time Seaver student, SGA receives $16. At 2,937 undergraduate students, SGA collects $46,992 from the student fees each semester. The other $46 per student is allotted to the Student Programming Board and the Inter-Club Council.
There is an additional $22,880 included in the budget from past years. In the 2005-2006 school year, the new SGA Constitution created a fund for this money, now called the “Special Programs Reserve.” This money will be spent over time, said Duby, on large-scale SGA projects.
The funds collected from the student activities fee were distributed between several accounts, including a general fund of $12,628, a philanthropy account of $1,500 from which Greek organizations can request funds, individual accounts for each class, and SGA Executive Board and overhead costs.
E-Board expenses have been budgeted at $10,050. This includes $3,600 in scholarships for the E-Board members, $1,000 for a semester-end banquet, and $2,350 for the SGA fall retreat this weekend, as well as other projects.
In the past, the fall SGA retreat has cost upwards of $3,000. Although Duby allocated $2,350 for the retreat, he said he expects it to cost only $1,000. Any funds left over will go into the general SGA fund, which rolls over at the end of the semester.
“We felt it wasn’t necessary to go two hours away and spend all this money,” Duby said. SGA significantly cut costs of the retreat this year, to save money for other projects. “It’s the students’ money, so we wanted to spend minimal funds on the retreat while still serving its purpose and spend most of the money for Pepperdine students.”
Although the majority of the budgeted funds go to general SGA use, each class senate also receives an individual account for class-specific projects. Each class senate collects $4 per student in that class for their budget. With 785 students, the freshman class senate receives the highest individual budget of $3,140. The sophomore class of 707 is allotted $2,828, the junior class of 679 receives $2,716, and the senior class gets $3,064 for its 766 students.
More than $6,000 was designated for overhead expenses such as telephone services, office supplies and interns.
Although the budget encompassed the majority of the meeting, the senate also voted three new housing senators into office, after being nominated by SGA members on Sept. 20.
SGA elected Marcella Monroe as Towers senator, Andrew Blackmon as off-campus senator and A.J. Winger as senior senator. SGA members nominated students to fill the five housing senator positions left vacant after the school-wide elections earlier this month.
“It was completely unexpected,” said Monroe of her nomination. “It’s flattering that people trust me to have that kind of responsibility, and that I would be a name that would come to mind.”
Of the five positions left open after SGA elections, the two Greek Row senator positions remain vacant. Although students were nominated for these posts, they chose not to accept their nominations. Students living in Greek Row will be able to campaign for those two positions in the next SGA election this November.
“I do see those positions being filled in November,” said Kristen Compean, SGA executive vice president.
09-28-2006