Associated Students Finance Board allocated $32,069.44 to eight groups and heavily debated the funding of two student publications in their meeting last night.

The board has $23,086.62 remaining in general unallocated funds for the rest of the quarter. During the meeting, board members distributed $16,133.46 to The Bottom Line to publish for the rest of the year and tabled a request by the Rec Sports newsletter for their Dec. 5 issue due to concerns over accountability in use of funds from last year’s Students’ Initiative.

After lengthy discussion, the board decided to table the funding request by Rec Sports News, a quarterly newsletter that recognizes the achievements of club and intramural teams. In an effort to reach a wider audience, the newsletter is seeking to publish a printed edition. Previous editions of the newsletter were distributed through the U-Mail system.

Rec Sports News Editor in Chief Matt Berson said the newsletter needs time and funding to get off the ground before it can become financially independent.

“We really don’t have any sponsors that directly sponsor the newsletter,” Berson said. “We have [thought about selling ads,] but the one thing we don’t have yet is credibility.”

Board member J.P. Primeau expressed reservations about providing additional funding to Rec Sports, which currently receives a quarterly $11 per student from the Students’ Initiative lock-in fee and a quarterly $7 per student through campuswide fees. The Students’ Initiative – a quarterly $100 per student lock-in fee which passed by only 30 votes last fall – funds 29 campus organizations.

“I’m angry that Rec Cen Sports was allocated $660,000 through Student’s Initiative but aren’t funding their own newspaper,” Primeau said. “We would be pretty much taken advantage of by Rec Cen Sports if we funded this.”

Along with Primeau, board member Jose Raygoza said groups should remain accountable for funds received through lock-in fees and should budget their money to cover all desired projects.

“Students’ Initiative was huge; let’s keep that money for the students,” Raygoza said. “I want to see more transparency with their budgets.”

The board voted 15-1-1 to table the request until next week to allow time to look into the Rec Sports budget and find potential alternative sources of funding for the newsletter.

Meanwhile, the board allocated $16,133.46 to The Bottom Line to fund printing costs for the 11 remaining issues of the school year, as well as for supplies such as digital cameras, recorders and newspaper stands.

The Bottom Line managing editor Megan Barnes said the paper would use new voice recorders to help staff members cover local news stories effectively.

“A lot of our writers are pretty new at doing print media,” Barnes said. “This would make them feel more comfortable doing local stories.”

The board also granted $2,000 as a one-time exception to UCSB Hillel to retroactively fund an event held this past Sunday to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the founding of the nation of Israel.