Over five hours, $1.78 million and a snowstorm later, campus leaders discussing 2009-2010 student government expenses left Huntsman Hall with a budget unchanged from the one initially proposed.
On Sunday night, the six umbrella groups of student government met to discuss the budget for the next academic year, proposed by the Undergraduate Assembly's budget committee.
Despite several suggested amendments, the budget submitted was upheld by the members of the UA.
The $1,784,789 -- a 3.9-percent increase from the 2008-2009 budget -- was distributed to the Social Planning and Events Committee ($784,259), the Student Committee on Undergraduate Education ($32,612), the Nominations and Elections Committee ($15,397), New Student Orientation and Pre-orientation programs ($25,000), the UA itself ($24,097) and the four class boards ($47,500).
The Student Activities Council received the remaining $823,511 after money had been allocated among the other groups. SAC is responsible for funding individual student-run groups on campus, including clubs, club sports and performing arts groups.
Most of the groups present expressed that they were pleased with the funds allocated and with the process behind the decisions.
However, SPEC objected to its request of $1.1 million not being granted. Members suggested that cuts to its Spring Fling budget would make it difficult to fulfill student expectations in programming.
Extra money allocated to SPEC or any of the other groups would have meant a decrease in SAC's funding.
While SPEC and SAC disagreed on the relative importance of throwing large-scale "capstone events" and funding smaller student groups, both expressed their goals of fulfilling student needs on campus.
SPEC Chairwoman and College senior Michelle Jacobson explained that the venue cost for last year's Fling concert ended up exceeding $200,000, a cost far greater than the $65,000 received for Fling 2010.
"Fling is such a large cost that the University isn't covering," said Jacobson. "SPEC doesn't have the funds to keep funding the event, even though it is a capstone event."
She also said she believes "there was some debt" last year but could not confirm, citing difficulty transitioning between last year's executive board and the current one.
The UA and SCUE budgets passed with little difficulty, despite respectively housing the formerly controversial New York Times readership program and the Wine Tasting Preceptorial.
Finally, the Senior Class Board also requested an increase in funding to support the newly created Hey Deja Vu, instead of requesting funds from UA contingency.
The request was turned down on past precedent. UA Treasurer and College and Wharton senior Ben Coulter explained that they should wait and evaluate the event's success and finances before committing funding.
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