After fixing a $2,500 accounting error Monday, Associated Students Finance Board spent $500 more than what it thought was its entire budget after last week.
The board allocated a total of $1,500 to various student organizations at this week’s meeting, leaving slightly less than $2,000 in its budget to carry over to future meetings. Three groups requested funding at Monday’s Finance Board meeting for upcoming cultural events, and all but one request was granted in its entirety.
Last week, the board believed it had less than $1,000 in its coffers. The board added funds were back into the board’s budget this week it discovered that an accounting error falsely lowered its unallocated total. The error occurred when money given out by A.S. Legislative Council was subtracted from the total more than once.
This week, the African Awareness Student Organization received the $1,000 it had requested to help pay for the high cost of renting Campbell Hall for its inaugural Black Community Culture Show. The event will feature dance, music, and theatrical performances focusing on the cultures of Africans and African-Americans.
Lia Mezengi, co-founder and president of the organization, said tickets for the event would cost $8 in advance and $10 at the door. The proceeds from the event will be donated to the Red Cross to fight a measles epidemic that has resulted in the deaths of thousands of Africans.
Finance Board also approved the $500 the Student Commission on Racial Equality had requested for its annual conference Sunday, May 23. The title of this year’s conference will be “Facing Race” and will explore issues like the state’s correctional and education systems.
S.C.O.R.E. will use the money to fund a number of events that will be held during the week of the conference including an interactive art exhibit, concert, and keynote speaker. Rebekah Waldron, S.C.O.R.E.’s representative at the meeting, said she hoped the group would be able to get activist Angela Davis to be the keynote speaker for the event.
The Chicana/o Latina/o Graduation Committee was allotted $500 of the $600 it had requested to help fund its upcoming graduation ceremony. Because the Finance Board had previously decided to set aside $500 for each cultural graduation, the full amount requested was not granted. Since the money was already set aside, it did not come out of the board’s unallocated funds.
Jewel Love, external vice president of statewide affairs, attended the meeting to inform the board that his office had more than $1,000 in unspent A.S. funds left over from an event earlier in the quarter but that he would like to keep the money as part of his office’s budget. Love said he had ended up taking fewer students to a conference than his funding request had planned for. The board allowed Love to keep the unspent money on the condition that he report its use to Chair Fernando Ramirez.
“My budget was small to begin with,” Love said. “This will make it easier for me to continue to serve the students for the rest of the year.”