SAC requests emergency funding

News

April 13, 2011

Sean O’Donnell

News Editor

The first item on the Tuesday, April 11 Student Assembly agenda was an emergency request from the Social Activities Council for $15,225 to help pay for unplanned costs associated with this weekend’s Spring Concert.

According to SAC treasurer Dayna Coleman, when SAC signs a contract for their spring concert it is “not fully executed,” meaning that it is binding, but not necessarily finalized.

SAC advisor Jenn Ferrell said this is common practice and there are changes made after the contract is signed every year.

Coleman said SAC had budgeted $10,000 for what they refer to as “production costs.” However when they received the changes on Friday, April 8, the performers asked for over $20,000 worth of changes.

“We have to pay for this; it’s not an option,” Coleman said. “If we do not have this, they do not need to perform.”

Coleman said SAC was able to negotiate with the bands through their agent and reduce the amount by about $8,000 to the $15,225 they were requesting from the contingency account that Student Assembly controls.

Coleman made it clear that although they had planned for $10,000, the additional cost caused other related costs, such as labor, catering, and transportation, to increase.

The assembly voted unanimously in favor of the request, granting SAC the full amount.

Next, Student Body President Donnie Clemmenson and Student Trustee Hannah Hayes presented a funding request that would be used to rent busses to provide transportation for students to and from the Senate Finance Committee hearing in Concord on Monday, April 18.

During the assembly’s discussion, Student Assembly Secretary Anna Cerilli suggested that part of the $2,200 could come out of the Student Government account.

Ultimately, the assembly decided to allocate the requested money for the “March on Concord” from the contingency account because as Junior Class Vice-President Chris Cole pointed out, “The Student Government funding is for us as a club, we are not sponsoring the event, and it isn’t for only for members of Student Government. Contingency is paid for by all of the students and this budget will affect all students.”

Clemmenson said because of the importance of this event, he is sending an email to all faculty asking them to excuse students from class for the rally, and they will have a sign-up sheet when students board the bus if teachers are concerned about whether or not a student actually attended.

Because the busses are being paid for by student fees, Clemmenson said faculty and staff members will not be allowed on them, but they are still encouraged to attend the rally.

The last request presented to Student Assembly was a request for $450 by the Campus Ecology club. Campus Ecology planned a trip to Washington DC for the “Power Shift Conference” but forgot to factor in the cost of gas to drive there and back.

Once again, the assembly voted to approve the request using money from the contingency account.

President of Campus Ecology Danielle Couture said that the club looked into their finances and the only they would be able to take the money from their own club would be to take the money set aside for their big spring event Solarfest, and only as an absolute last resort did they want to do that.

The contingency account currently has $22,000 left, for student activities and if the money is not used by the end of the year, it will roll over to next year.

Sean O’Donnell can be contacted at sodonnell@keeneequinox.com

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