Associated Students (A.S) senator apologized Tuesday to the Gender and Women’s Studies Student Association (GWSSA) president after he justified funding two organizations for the same event.
John Anderson, 22, G.W.S. major and president of the GWSSA, spoke during the open forum and addressed the Senate about his organization’s relationship with the Women’s Research and Resource Center, which received $9,000 from A.S. on Aug 25 for events including Take Back the Night, a shared event between both organizations and a rally that educates students about sexual violence against women.
“I’m here to clarify why we need funding from A.S. for Take Back the Night because we are not the same as the Women’s Research and Resource Center,” Anderson said. “We are based there, but we have our own events.”
Anderson said the GWSSA’s budget was minimal and depended on A.S. to make their events a success.
A.S. unanimously voted to allocate $2,500 to the GWSSA followed by an apology from a senator on the finance committee.
Amanda Flavin, senator of business and economics I, said she was sorry for not doing her research on the relationship between the WRRC and the GWSSA.
“I want to apologize to the Gender and Women’s Studies Student Association because I didn’t take the time to read exactly what it is you do,” Flavin said.
On August 31, A.S. members reviewed a request from the GWSSA to fund Feminist Awareness Week, Women’s Herstory Month including Take Back the Night, which caught the attention of the finance committee.
Amanda Flavin, senator of business and economic I, said she wanted A.S. members to do more research about the WRRC and the GWSSA’s participation in the same event before allocating $2,500 to the GWSSA.
Flavin said they should take a closer look into funding two requests for the same event because $9,000 funded the week before was a large part of their budget.
At the close of her report, Flavin said she wanted Senate members to understand how the finance committee made decisions and recommendations.
“I would like to encourage all Senate members to attend one finance committee meeting to see how things are determined,” Flavin said.
Senate members approve senator and committee appointments
A.S. approved senator and committee appointments Tuesday and confirmed the director of legislative affairs while discussing new business at the meeting.
- Argina Haghverdian, senator of upper division II,
- Ezequiel Andrada, senator of lower division II
- Jose Marin, senator of business and economics II
- Casey Hong, senator of science and mathematics II
- Janessa Kelly, senator of social and behavioral science I
- Kenya Parham, director of legislative affairs (confirmation)
- Rebecca Durant, environmental affairs
- Monserrat Portillo, environmental affairs
- Kevin Lee, finance committee
- Anderson Ramirez, finance committee
