SAC will reexamine IAA books

and Amy Lipman The Student Activities Council passed a motion last night asking the SAC Finance Committee to take another look into the International Affairs Association's financial records, in light of a recent investigation which found that the group may have misused $3,492. An independent audit performed by The Daily Pennsylvanian late last month found that the IAA may have overspent for printing and duplicating, travel and personal phone calls made from the group's office. The motion, which was made by Wharton junior and Penn Watch SAC liaison Keith Huebsch, passed by a narrow margin of 37 to 34. SAC Steering Chairperson and College senior Graham Robinson told the body that he had asked SAC Finance Chairperson David Shapiro to investigate the potential fund misuses immediately following the DP audit. Robinson also asked Shapiro, a College and Wharton junior, to bring an information sheet showing the investigation results to yesterday's meeting. Shapiro did not comply. Also at last night's meeting, SAC Steering presented a proposal for a new constitution. The suggested changes would allow the body more flexibility in interpreting its bylaws, according to Robinson. "This proposal would make SAC a better organization for student activities," he said. The new constitution eliminates both the SAC Finance and SAC Steering committees, replacing them with a single Executive Committee consisting of nine members. One proposal recommends that a group that loses recognition can regain it the next year, but with a 10 percent cut in its SAC grant. Another proposal allows SAC groups to retain their revenue up to 200 percent of their allocated budget without taking a cut in grants. This is intended to increase the incentive for groups to raise outside revenue, Robinson said. The new constitution overhauls the system, using the current procedures only as suggestions for how the body should efficiently operate. "The fact is, if this [constitution] is the case, there will be no rules," Robinson said. The SAC body will vote on the proposed changes at next month's meeting so that members have time to review the amendments and ask questions of SAC Steering, Robinson said. In an surprise move, SAC Finance gathered 15 percent of the body's support by petition, gaining permission to recommend two amendments to the constitution. One amendment proposes the creation of a seven-member Judicial Committee to monitor the constitutionality of the Executive Committee. The second amendment recommends that re-recognized groups receive a 10 percent cut in grants. But College junior Norm Hetrick, the SAC Steering vice chairperson, pointed out that this amendment is superfluous because each of the amendments can be voted on separately, if the body chooses to do so. Another topic of discussion at the meeting was SAC Steering's decision to allocate the Philomathean Society $5,069 in funding last week, in response to the group's emergency request. The money will be used to print 2,000 copies of an unique poetry collection, which will be distributed to undergraduates in the spring. But SAC Finance objected to this decision, claiming that the situation was not an emergency. Shapiro also questioned the actions of the Steering Committee. Robinson maintained that it would be unfair to the group at this point to take back this money. He added that both SAC Steering and its advisors believed the situation was an emergency. The SAC body voted by a large margin to not change the amount promised to Philo.