In addition to allocating funds to three student groups, Associated Students Finance Board began plans for Spring Quarter Monday afternoon, despite it only being the board’s first meeting of Winter Quarter.

After waiting nearly 30 minutes for enough members to reach quorum, the board allocated $1,410 between the American Indian Student Association, performance art group Hail to the Piece and student group Amitie. Finance Board now has $3,831.75 for the remainder of the quarter.

The board also decided to allocate approximately $6,400 made from Summer Session student fees to its spring quarter budget. Board members unanimously agreed that spring is, by far, the busiest quarter for student events, and thus could use additional funding.

Maria Reifel Saltzberg, a fourth-year environmental studies major, requested funds for her group, the American Indian Student Association (AISA). Although the group had initially requested $150, Saltzberg, chair of the group, asked the board to give whatever in could in order to fund a lecture by Ward Churchill – professor of ethnic studies at the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Churchill’s lecture will focus on the American Indian Movement – a radical militant movement concerned with Native American civil rights. The professor has received much attention in the media, Saltzberg said, due to inflammatory remarks he made in an essay about the attacks of 9/11.

In his essay, “Some People Push Back: On the Justice of Roosting Chickens,” Churchill referred to workers in the World Trade Center who had died in the 9/11 attacks as “little Eichmanns,” because of their participation in what he called the “American financial empire.”

Churchill’s lecture is slated for Jan. 17 at 7:30 p.m. in Campbell Hall. Tickets are available at the A.S. Ticket Office, with prices of $10 for the general public and $2 for UCSB students.

Finance Board unanimously awarded AISA $350 for all expenses except talent costs, as the student group was ineligible to receive talent funding. To pay for a speaker’s contract costs, student groups must present the contract to A.S. at least two weeks before the event.

Second-year English majorRigo Rodarte requested $1,200 for an event sponsored by student group Hail to the Piece (HTTP). Rodarte, president of the organization, said the group planned to host a “multimedia” event entitled “Angry Art – This Is Not Art.”

According to the group’s letter to the board, the show confronts “issues of sex, race, political quagmires, childhood traumas and the impending apocalypse.” The event is slated for Jan. 21 and 22 at Girvetz Theatre. Admission is $3 presale in the Arbor, $5 at the door.

The board unanimously voted to allocate $600 to HTTP to help pay for production equipment costs.

Amitie, a campus women’s support group, asked the board for $500 to help pay for their event, tentatively titled “Searching for New Orleans.” The event is to be a fundraiser for Hurricane Katrina relief efforts, group members said.

The board unanimously allocated $460 to the group for any related expenses, not including food.