The Associated Students finance committee has begun allocating money that should be set aside for next semester’s unallocated reserves account, A.S. General Manager David Crandall said.

Excess enrollment fees have added about $90,000 more to the unallocated reserves account.

Director of Finance Adam Haverstock said he wants to “spend all of the student fees this year,” in spite of the fact that the money specifically allocated for the 2007 spring semester has been drained.

Crandall was quick to disagree with Haverstock’s goal, saying, “What you are spending right now is next year’s unallocated reserves.”

Committee members decided to transfer $15,000 to the Academically Related Reserves Account because Haverstock pointed out that the ARRA account is nearly depleted. Before the additional $15,000, there was only $3,602 in the account set aside for senior projects and graduate student projects.

“We have seen an increased need for funding from the Academically Related Reserves Account this year,” A.S. Student Development Adviser Sonja Daniels said.

“It is not that we have seen an increased amount of requests, it is that this committee has been more responsive to those requests than we have been in previous years,” Crandall said.

Difference of opinion among committee members led to A.S. President Adam Salgado’s request to allocate $15,000 to the Speak Your Mind being postponed until next week.

This same request was brought to the committee on Feb. 19, and the members had voted for the allocation, but considering their limited budget, members postponed the request with a promise to allocate at a later date, Haverstock said.

Committee member Zabie Mansoory said he understood that the allocation was a promise to the president, but said the greater good of the students should be considered.

Mansoory’s concerns regarding the allocation were due to the fact that the committee had received no breakdown of funding needs and did not know exactly where the money was going.

Committee members decided that they would postpone the recommendation process until next week, when they hope to be presented with a thorough breakdown of funding.

In other allocations, the committee recommended $1,000 to A.S. for the Leadership Transition Workshop.

Committee members Mansoory and Lyla Askejian expressed support for the event because they said every year leadership changes and new leaders are left to figure things out for themselves, but this event would help smooth the transition process.

Continuing to show support for clubs and organizations, Mansoory spoke out on behalf of Unity Fest, an event put on by the Black Student Union.

The event will open up dialogue between different cultural clubs and organizations on campus and create a whole community, bettering events in the coming semesters, Mansoory said.

After much deliberation among committee members, Unity Fest was recommended the sum of $1,400. Such an allocation to a first time event is rare, committee members said.

An allocation of $2,500 was recommended to fund guest comedian Michael Blackson, who will perform on campus. The event is a collaborative effort between the African Student Organization and A.S. SPACE.

CSUN’s Intelligent Ground Vehicle team was recommended $500 to attend a competition.

The committee also recommended $600 to the California Chicano News Media Association to attend the National Association of Hispanic Journalists’ 25th Anniversary Convention.

Sigma Nu’s Spring Classic event was recommended $700 out of a $2,500 request, and Phi Delta Epsilon was recommended coverage of insurance costs for their initiation ceremony.

Three graduate students from the departments of Chicano/a studies, art history and CTVA were recommended the standard allocation of $400 for travel from ARRA for the purpose of conducting research.