The African American Student Union (AASU) submitted a bill to SGA this past week requesting funds to host multiple speakers at the Black Leadership Conference (BLC) from Feb. 19-21. The organization submitted a bill last semester to host a different set of speakers at the same event, but the bill ultimately failed to meet the enactment ratio.
The organization stated that since then they had worked with corporate sponsors to reallocate funds and cover the cost of events on Feb 21. The organization requested funds to invite Chuck D, a radio producer and publisher to speak about political activism, and Dr. Mae Jemison, a NASA astronaut and the first African American woman in space. The bill was amended from $17,500 to $11,250 in order to conform to JFC policy for funding honorariums. The bill passed UHR 32-7-2 and GSS 16-10-1.
SGA considered a bill to fund a trip for the College Republicans to the Conservative Political Action Conference. The bill requested funding for 14 members and travel to the conference in Washington, DC. The bill was originally $1,750, but amended to due to JFC restrictions on travel and registration fees for conferences.
UHR waived JFC policy limiting registration funds for four people to travel to a conference and funded all 14 members going on the trip. As a result, the bill totaled $1230.60 and passed UHR 31-9-1 and GSS 19-6-1. The bill will go to conference committee for revision.
The Erato literary magazine put forward a bill requesting $300 to attend a literary conference in Denver, Co. The bill was passed unanimously in both houses with a vote of 39-0-0 in UHR and GSS 26-0-0.