KASSY LOCHHEAD
STAFF WRITER
Franciscan University Student Government met Feb. 10 to discuss funding of the group IDEAS as well as funding for student sports teams.
Spring bill #13, which called for the allocation of funds to the student club IDEAS, was sponsored by Sen. Gabriel Gessler but presented by Sen. Stephen Shaw. This bill produced much debate, accounting for a majority of the Student Government meeting.
The bill moved to allocate $1200 to the club for an upcoming trip, but Sen. Adam Basinger suggested a tabling of the bill for two weeks since the group would like to try some fundraising to see how much they can earn themselves.
However, not everyone thought tabling the bill was the best decision, and there was much to discuss.
“I am totally in favor of tabling and fundraising on your own to show the effort to do your part and raise money,” Sen. Ben Idzik said to the club representative, Ally Rose, who wished on behalf of IDEAS to deny the $300 that Student Government was willing to give.
The club thought it better to wait and see if it could make anything on its own.
“Take the money that we can give you right now,” said Sen. Daniel Smith. “Fundraise and see what you can come up with as well. Tabling this bill will do you no favors in the long run.”
Chief Justice Tommy Valentine opened the floor for debate on whether or not to table the bill.
Smith said, “If we do table this bill and they request $300 two or three weeks from now, how much are we going to be willing to reallocate? We should pass this bill now, give them the $300, and see where they are later. Tabling this now and bringing it up later, our contingency fund could be lower later on.”
This bill was tabled.
After the meeting, Idzik said, “It was positive to see them put in the extra effort to make the money for IDEAS.”
Spring bill #12, sponsored by Gessler, was a reallocation of Franciscan men’s ultimate Frisbee team FATAL’s $900 budget that moved the April budget to the February budget for lodging at the D-III Western Invite. There was slight confusion if the amount of reallocation was correct. Debate concluded that the amount be left at $900 instead of being amended to read $800.
Spring bill #10, regarding allocating funds to Franciscan’s men’s volleyball club for league dues, was presented by Shaw. The bill moved to allocate $220 to the club for dues. By committee vote, the $220 was changed to $150.
Sen. Sarah Sperduto objected to the new amount, saying, “The volleyball club has not asked for money in the past year. I do think that if we’re going to show support to other sports teams, we should also show this club support since they aren’t asking for much.”
The bill was passed at its original amount of $220.
Spring bill #9, calling for an allocation of funds to the men’s volleyball team for 14 jerseys, was to allocate $60 for the given number of jerseys, recognizing that the team was in need of new ones. The committee vote was 5-0, according to Shaw, and the bill was passed.
David Schmiesing, adviser to Student Government and vice president of Student Life, also welcomed the new senators.