FAC to deliberate next week
Chris Drew
Issue date: 10/29/09 Section: News
Deliberation will begin next Wednesday for the Funds Allotment Council.
The primary function of the FAC is to allocate money to different clubs each semester. Their funds come from the Student Activities Fee, and they are dispersed based on need, proposed use of funds and campus benefit.
FAC's portioning of funds led to grievances and debate last semester, primarily from jujiTSU, the men's Ultimate Frisbee team, regarding how the FAC should decide who receives money and whether their say should be the last on that decision.
FAC chair Austin Underhill said Student Senate recommended a change in the grievance policy in their ruling on jujiTSU, and the FAC is following through with that recommendation.
Underhill said members of FAC hope to develop more formal guidelines in conjunction with Senate to handle grievances. He said these guidelines mostly will follow the same process the Senate used last year in handling jujiTSU's grievance and, if formally added to their bylaws, will require Senate approval.
He said he does not think there needs to be any additional Student Senate oversight on FAC decisions than there already is, but that there are no plans to separate FAC from Student Senate anytime soon.
He said he thinks FAC is best qualified to distribute funding fairly. FAC meets with each organization that applies and therefore has a better idea than the Senate as to how each organization will spend their funding and how it will benefit campus, he said.
"We look for what will benefit the students most," he said. "It is their money, after all."
Underhill said that last semester, the grievance situation with jujiTSU, was new for the FAC and the first test of a vague grievance process in their constitution.
This time last semester, the FAC decision to deny jujiTSU funds made some people question FAC's freedom to disperse funding.
"After we were denied our funding, we put in a complaint with Student Senate," jujiTSU captain Dennis Tarasi said. "They made a committee look at our case and they ruled in our favor."
The primary function of the FAC is to allocate money to different clubs each semester. Their funds come from the Student Activities Fee, and they are dispersed based on need, proposed use of funds and campus benefit.
FAC's portioning of funds led to grievances and debate last semester, primarily from jujiTSU, the men's Ultimate Frisbee team, regarding how the FAC should decide who receives money and whether their say should be the last on that decision.
FAC chair Austin Underhill said Student Senate recommended a change in the grievance policy in their ruling on jujiTSU, and the FAC is following through with that recommendation.
Underhill said members of FAC hope to develop more formal guidelines in conjunction with Senate to handle grievances. He said these guidelines mostly will follow the same process the Senate used last year in handling jujiTSU's grievance and, if formally added to their bylaws, will require Senate approval.
He said he does not think there needs to be any additional Student Senate oversight on FAC decisions than there already is, but that there are no plans to separate FAC from Student Senate anytime soon.
He said he thinks FAC is best qualified to distribute funding fairly. FAC meets with each organization that applies and therefore has a better idea than the Senate as to how each organization will spend their funding and how it will benefit campus, he said.
"We look for what will benefit the students most," he said. "It is their money, after all."
Underhill said that last semester, the grievance situation with jujiTSU, was new for the FAC and the first test of a vague grievance process in their constitution.
This time last semester, the FAC decision to deny jujiTSU funds made some people question FAC's freedom to disperse funding.
"After we were denied our funding, we put in a complaint with Student Senate," jujiTSU captain Dennis Tarasi said. "They made a committee look at our case and they ruled in our favor."
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