SAC forms new funding organization

The Student Activites Council's present leadership left office Tuesday, forming a new joint organization with the Social Planning and Events Committee to fund campus-wide social and cultural events. SAC members also elected their new steering board, which yesterday morning made College junior Brandon Fitzgerald SAC's new chairperson. The other SAC Steering board members are: Wharton junior Eric Swanson, vice-chair; College junior You-Lee Kim, Undergraduate Assembly liason; Wharton junior Lincoln Singleton, Houston Hall Board liason; and College junior Shailesh Rao, SAC finance committee liason. At Tuesday's meeting, the SAC body voted to form a Joint Co-Sponsorship Board with SPEC to fund campus-wide events -- such as the Latino Festival -- that "fall between the cracks" of the two organizations' funding powers, said outgoing SAC Steering Chairperson David Wessels last night. According to Engineering senior Wessels, SAC and SPEC will equally fund the JCB, with each organization contributing $4000t for its first year. He said that SAC's portion of the money will come out of SAC's last year's contingency fund. Two leaders of SAC and SPEC, along with a UA representative who has not served in the two organizations, will compose the JCB. Wessels added that SPEC still has to approve the JCB agreement, but he said he is confident it will pass. SPEC Chairperson Anne Todd could not be reached for comment. Most of the new SAC officers welcome the formation of the JCB. New SAC Chairperson Fitzgerald said the JCB agreement is "something concrete to serve students of the University," whose events would not be able to receive funding. However, SAC's new UA liason Kim said, "I think [the JCB] is a good idea, but I see a lot of problems with it." Kim said that with SPEC's guaranteed funding expiring in 1993, SAC can not be certain that its partner will exist next year. In addition, Kim says the new organization adds to the "proliferation of bureaucracy." The new SAC officers said they are optimistic for the new year because each officer has a lot of experience in student government. "The new board is great," Singleton said. "It represents diversity present at Penn and also represents a wealth of experience in a number of different activities across the University." Fitzgerald served as SAC's UA liason last year, Singleton was a vice-president of SPEC and Kim served on UA's Steering Board last year as well as in many other University organizations. Fitgerald said that as SAC chairperson, he will support the renewal of SPEC's funding and will try to mend the rocky relations SAC has had with the UA, which flirted with cutting SAC's funding in half last month. Fitzgerald said he has spoken with the possible candidates for UA chairperson about holding an information session with UA members to explain what SAC does. "It is obvious with some decisions the UA is making that they are not aware of what other undergraduate branches of student government do," he said.