BY RAEGAN NEUFELD
During Thursday’s Student Government Association meeting, senators passed the annual allocations budget where $894,000 of student fee money is set to be distributed to 56 different on-campus student organizations for the 2024 fiscal year.
The organizations present included both academic and social clubs for various concentrations or activities. As written in the bill, these organizations “need funding to increase the involvement and education of students attending Fort Hays State University.” The money allocated is intended to be used for predetermined events, trips, speakers, etc.
According to Sen. Alex Johnson, who served on the Allocations Committee, the total amount of money requested by the organizations was the most it ever has been. He thanked the organizations for working with the committee. Treasurer David Schulte also commented on the process and what it means for the groups.
“Thank you all for coming,” he said. “It’s a really cool thing to see this many people care about the organizations they’re involved in, and it’s really awesome that our student government association is able to help you guys all out.”
Only one point of discussion was brought up prior to the senators’ vote. Two organizations, both involving the arts, were recommended no funding by the committee after no representative was present at one of the five allocations hearings. A question was asked specifically about just one of the groups and why they were not given a second meeting.
“We talked about it and we all felt – minus one person – that as far as their reason behind it, we weren’t sure we 100 percent agreed,” said Sen. Hannah Dechant. “Yeah, we all understand that we all get busy, but as a committee, we decided that we were better off following our committee guidelines.”
Several other committee members cited the expectation of responsibility and accountability as reasons for not scheduling another meeting. They also noted that at the time the decision was made, they needed to start preparing the bill for its first reading.
After a brief discussion, the bill was adopted unanimously.
Other business included senators voting to adopt a bill moving the SGA elections up from the second week of April to the last week of March.
Vice President Austin Ruff also spoke about the campus traffic committee’s recent meeting. He said they discussed repainting the parking lines different colors to correspond with the zones they reside in.
Lastly, Legislative Affairs Director Ella Burrows informed senators she has spoken with the Memorial Union about the building’s ATM, which they are going to replace once they find the best offer on rates.
The next SGA meeting is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. on March 23 in the Black and Gold Room.