More than $4,000 was awarded to separate clubs and departments at the Associated Students Senate meeting yesterday.
One thousand seven hundred dollars were awardedto the Department of Communications Studies. The money was requested for the performance ensemble and the miscegenation workshop and performance from April 14-22 in 2008.
The original amount that was going to be awarded was $900. The senators discussed the award and thought that $1,700 was a more reasonable fit for the $4,900 that was requested by the Department of Communication Studies.
Sen. Byron Baba said, “The big thing that I want to point out is that this is supposed to be an event for the spring. I think that demonstrates that they’re preparing very far in advance and their level of skills in communication.”
The only senator that voted against the motion to increase the funding was A.S. Vice President Josh Hansen. Hansen, a former member of the finance committee, said, “I know a lot of their policies. And one of them is that when new events come up to the finance committee, Associated Students and that committee are hesitant in funding that because it is a new event. “They don’t know the success of that event. They don’t know how many people attend or how many students this will benefit. It’s the unofficial policy to give them a modest amount so we can get a benchmark of where they’re at so that we have a standard of which we can judge for next year’s event.”
Professor of Communication Studies Marisa Cristina Garcia-Rodriguez spoke to A.S. at the open forum portion of the meeting. Garcia-Rodriguez thanked A.S. for funding to help bring two traveling artists to the campus.
Garcia-Ramirez said, “The performance ensemble has been active on campus for a few years now. We offer a performance every semester from performance ensemble, but this is the first year we’re attempting to bring an outside artist to further develop the performance with communication studies.
“These two wonderful artists are going to run a week-long seminar discussing what we learned about gender and about race. So thank you for your consideration.”
A.S. also awarded $1,000 to the National Society of Collegiate Scholars hunger banquet. The original amount on the agenda was $750 for the event because it was believed that the cost of food could be acquired with less money.
Sen. Aleem Kanji was the first to suggest the increase of funding for the event. The funding would help cover food, room rental, and flyers for the banquet.
These weren’t the only events to receive funding from A.S. during the meeting. Five hundred dollars was awarded to Briana Simmons of the Art History Department for Indigenous Identity Practices. And CSUN Young Democrats received $600 for two students to travel to the Los Angeles Young Democrats Leadership Conference Retreat on Nov. 9.
Baba also brought up some issues around campus. One of the problems discussed was wireless Internet connectivity. Manzanita Hall was identified as a problem area for wireless Web service. Some of the connectivity problems were blamed on general connectivity of the building. Baba, AS had already asked CSUN to boost the signal of the wireless service.
A permanent solution to the connectivity would take about five years to fix, Baba said. Hansen then suggested that a temporary solution must be sought, as five years is longer than some students stay at CSUN.
A.S. President Adam Haverstock asked senators for volunteers to hand out food to students who come to vote during the A.S. Fall 2007 elections from Nov. 6-7 at 7 p.m.
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