Associated Students Finance Board giveth and taketh away.

A.S. Finance Board allotted nearly $2,000 to two student groups and reclaimed funding from another. Students Teaching Alcohol and other drug Responsibility (S.T.A.R.) received $704 to help pay for the cost of hosting “Safe Grad,” an event to promote responsible drinking during graduation celebrations. The Black Student Union (BSU) received $1,200 to fund Black Culture Week starting May 18. All fund allocations are tentative, pending Legislative Council approval.

On April 21, Finance Board allocated $200 to the Sherwood Players theater group for its “Shocker II” show, which was performed five times between April 19 and 27. Legislative Council, however, must approve Finance Board’s minutes before a check can be written. On April 23, Legislative Council did not meet quorum and was not able to approve the allocation. When Legislative Council met last week it did approve the funding, but all the performances of “Shocker II” had already been staged. Finance Board cannot retroactively disperse funding and therefore rescinded the $200 allocated to the Sherwood Players.

Finance Board disbursed a total of $1,904 to S.T.A.R. and BSU, which leaves $4,006.25 remaining to allocate to student groups for the rest of the year.

“We’ve been giving out an average amount of about $1,000 for culture weeks, so that’s pretty normal,” said Manual Silva, A.S. Finance Board chair. “We didn’t have as much money as we did before, but there are two meetings left and we have approximately $3,000, so I think we’re doing pretty well.”

S.T.A.R. is a student organization sponsored by Student Health Service and aims to educate students to drink responsibly. The organization will host “Safe Grad” on May 29 in Storke Plaza from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and will be asking students to sign pledges stating that they will not drive under the influence or get in a car with a driver that has been drinking.

Jessica Buttafuoco, S.T.A.R member and undeclared second-year student, said the organization’s members hope students will use the information and activities from “Safe Grad” to keep themselves and their friends safe when drinking.

“We want to empower students to be able to make that behavioral choice based on the knowledge that we present to them,” Buttafuoco said.

After Finance Board allocated $704 to S.T.A.R., the amount the organization requested, BSU presented its budget to Finance Board and requested $1,200 to fund one-sixth of the cost of hosting Black Culture Week.

Black Culture Week is organized by BSU in conjunction with fraternities, sororities and on-campus African-American groups to promote black culture and heritage.

“The question for Black Culture Week is, ‘Where would America be without black people?'” said Khixaan Obioma-Sakhu, BSU co-president and fourth-year law and society major.

Students from local high schools, and possibly from areas outside Santa Barbara County, will be bused in during the culture week in an effort to increase the number of black students that attend college.

“What’s important is that we’re bringing kids from urban areas [to UCSB] that would have otherwise been overlooked,” said Ashley Thomas, Black Culture Week coordinator and first-year psychology major.