The student media organization of California State University Northridge

Daily Sundial

The student media organization of California State University Northridge

Daily Sundial

The student media organization of California State University Northridge

Daily Sundial

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A.S. to see new money as result of excess Fall 2005 enrollment

Associated Students will be able to utilize additional funds in its unallocated reserves account following word that overall student enrollment at CSUN exceeded earlier predictions, according to the A.S. general manager.

General Manager David Crandall said at Tuesday’s A.S. Senate meeting that A.S. exceeded its enrollment prediction by 1,893 students, and that $37,946 in additional funds will be available for use.

“It’s always nice to have more money at your disposal,” said Chad Charton, A.S. president. “More money is always better.”

Each semester, A.S. makes an estimate the number of enrolled students to predict the amount of funding that comes from a $70 fee paid by every student.

The university recently announced that it exceeded its full time equivalent student enrollment target by 4 percent. Last fall, the university failed to meet its FTES targets.

The current balance of the unallocated reserves fund is about $52,000, according to A.S. director of finance Bryanne Knight.

The additional funds will be beneficial because of the $33,000 donation made by A.S. to Hurricane Katrina relief efforts, which setback the budget, Charton said.

New funds in the unallocated reserves account have the potential to transfer directly to additional funding for events sponsored by student clubs and organizations. Individual students can also request money from A.S. for various academic pursuits, Charton said.

During his report to the senate, Charton provided an update regarding the creation of an ad hoc committee to address the issue of enhancing school spirit.

At the Sept. 20 A.S. Senate meeting, Charton issued a legislative referral to the A.S. University Affairs Committee, urging the group to begin exploring options to enhance the student experience at CSUN.

“There has been an overwhelming response,” Charton said. “We have 12 to 15 people already (interested)” in joining the ad hoc committee, he said.

Charton is currently working to determine the final membership for the committee.

The senate also addressed an action item that was postponed during the Sept. 20 meeting. Tuesday’s action item proposed not to allocate money from the unallocated reserves account to Student Development and International Programs for the purpose of sending a student representative, A.S. attorney general and SDIP staffer Hamid Jahangard, to the National Orientation Directors’ Association conference.

The action item sparked various comments and discussion among senate members.

“I think it is in our best interest to have the department take care of this,” said Juana Zamora, Humanities I senator.

Vice President Safa Sajadi introduced a motion that asked for $450 to be allocated for the purpose of Jahangard’s attendance at the conference.

“This particular case is a special circumstance,” Sajadi said. “We are sending a student. I think we can all agree that the First Year Experience is the most important one.”

Victor Cervantes, Engineering and Computer Science II senator, spoke in opposition to the $450 allocation. The senate should follow the policy of not allocating funds to university departments, he said.

According to the budget language that governs the A.S. Senate, traditional policy is not to allocate funding for employees of individual departments on campus.

The action item that asked to allocate $450 for the purpose of the conference was called to a vote by hand count.

The senate did not reach a majority vote and the motion failed to pass.

Zamora then re-introduced the original action item that proposed not to allocate money to SDIP department. A hand count vote was taken, and the motion failed to pass.

At this point, after consulting with Jahangard, Charton suggested a five-minute recess after which a second vote would take place.

Following the recess, the senate voted again by hand count on the action item proposing an allocation of $0. Finally, the motion passed with a majority vote.

Sajadi urged senators to remember how they voted and to take their previous votes into account to be consistent should similar proposals arise in the future.

Michael Salseda can be reached at michael.salseda@gmail.com.

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