The Associated Students finance committee led by Adam Haverstock met Sept. 25 at 2 p.m. to hear from individuals and clubs on funding requests.
The committee is made up of three students, excluding Haverstock, and four advisers, including the A.S. general manager. The job of the committee is to vote on a monetary referral to be presented at the A.S. Senate meeting each Tuesday.
The Central American United Students Association put forth two proposals in need of funding, one of which involved an international film festival. According to the CAUSA’s proposal, the event will feature 11 films from “diverse nationalities that explore the construction of gender, and experience sexuality from a non-heterosexist perspective and that promote tolerance and understanding.”
The film festival has received active support from a number of departments, organizations, student groups and programs. The amount of funding requested was $3,000 out of an estimated total cost of $5,000.
“We normally don’t request this much, but this event is seeking to include all communities and colleges,” said CAUSA adviser Beatriz Cortez.
Following the College of Humanities film festival proposal, the student members of the finance committee motioned to fund the entire request. Finance committee adviser Bryanne Knight recommended against this course of action because “we never 100 percent fund requests with the exception of small amounts.”
The students motioned for $2,000 and argued that the cost of the Armer screening room plus the screening fee would then be partially covered.
Advisers and Haverstock said this was an unknown venue and relatively new group, and the committee agreed on a $1,300 referral to be voted on at the Oct. 3 A.S. Senate meeting.
When asked about her feelings concerning the referral amount, Cortez said, “I am very disappointed to learn that they are not supporting our petition for funding a program that seeks to build bridges between so many communities, departments, and student organizations on and off campus, as well as open spaces for discussion on the connection between gender, class, global citizenship, race and cultural diversity. I truly hope the senate will see this, and propose a change to the A.S. Finance Committee recommendation.”
Cortez said that teh CAUSA is one of the most active groups on campus and known for organizing events for Central American high school and middle school students.
The finance committee motioned to recommend $2,200 for the “Do It in a Booth” A.S. voting campaign and proposed awareness fair. The campaign will include class raps, letters to the governor and other voter information. The awareness fair, which the director of political awareness said was her priority, will include, according to the proposal, “radio stations, (a) root beer keg contest, … Uncle Sam costumes and T-shirts.”