Associated Students Finance Board distributed $31,044.06 to 11 student groups after unexpectedly recovering $39,696.48 in previously allocated funds.
More than a quarter of the recovered money came from the $12,190 that was meant for Fight Night, the charity amateur boxing event that Pi Alpha Phi was scheduled to host. The remaining $25,506.48 came from unused funds allocated to student groups earlier in the year.
The fraternity, however, has become unable to host the event and hoped to pass it on to the Interfraternity Council. However, the board ultimately took back the money following the decision to cancel Fight Night.
Meanwhile, Black Quare – a new student group dedicated to African-American lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT) students – received full funding of $1,000 to bring a professor from Northwestern University to speak to the group. Another group, Musicians Making a Difference, received $4,631 in order to bring a Sublime cover band to UCSB; the group had originally requested $10,000.
The Asian Resource Center also requested $10,000 in funding in order to host a hip-hop event. Kunthon Meas, a third-year film & media studies and Asian American studies double major, said the event would raise money for UCSB’s Educational Opportunity Program.
Board members were hesitant to fund the event, however, as the ARC is part of EOP. According to board member Hassan Naveed, Finance Board bylaws prevent funding of events that raise money for themselves.
“I’m open to anything, but they can’t fund EOP,” Naveed said. “They can’t make any money for EOP off this event. So is that a debatable question or [an] answer?”
Unable to answer their own questions, the board decided to wait and see how much money ARC could raise for the event over the week. They will reexamine the issue next Monday.
Members also heard a presentation by A.S. President J.P. Primeau, who told the board that it could anticipate a much smaller budget in future. Given the bad economic climate, Primeau said the board would have much less than $100,000 per quarter to work with in the coming year.
Nevertheless, Cindy Lopez, an administrative advisor for the board, told Primeau that she hasseen much smaller Finance Board budgets over the years and that the Finance Board should stay optimistic.
“We lost a lot of money in the stock market one year, and the next year our unallocated was about $14,000,” Lopez said. “We actually didn’t have a Finance Board one year because we didn’t have any money.”