Executive Order
A Joint Executive Order, proposed by SGA Undergraduate Student Body President Elle Creel and Graduate Student Body President James Black and presented to UHR members Tuesday night, detailed new plans to streamline accounting policies for campus organizations. The stated goal of the outlined policies is “to verify that money allocated to student organizations is spent in ways consistent with the decisions of SGA,” according to the order itself.
Joint Finance Committee Chair Charley Crosson will be working alongside the Student Organization Finance Office (SOFO) accountants to establish a comprehensive reporting structure that all accountants, excluding those that handle Tier I budgets, will be required to follow. This includes all accountants that handle Student Activity Fee revenue and SOFO.
The timeline established in the order states that said reporting structure will be created by Oct. 15, and there will be a meeting in early Dec. to discuss the effectiveness of the changes made and any issues that could possibly arise.
After concerns were raised last year about a allocations being given to campus sports organizations, the order will also address some of the potential problems that could arise from sports-oriented and other groups using separate accounting methods in determining allocations and budgets.
The second provision of the order affects Tier III sports clubs and organizations, in that a reporting structure will be established between CRC Accountants and SOFO by the beginning of Oct.
“I really want to emphasize clear communication and transparency,” Creel said. “The intention of the Executive Order was to ensure that our policies are being applied consistently to all organizations, no matter what department manages their accounts.”
Presidential Veto
Naval ROTC submitted a funding request totaling $141.66 in order to pay for a sailing competition this weekend. The Naval ROTC will be competing in a regatta at the University of South Carolina this weekend and requested the money to pay for the registration transportation costs.
Because the organization is not an officially chartered student organization, JFC policy states that the Naval ROTC cannot receive funding from SGA.
Joint Chair of Campus Organizations Aaron Greenwood supported waiving JFC policy and passing the bill.
“We should fund organizations even if they aren’t chartered because we collect student activity fees from every student, not just those that are a part of officially chartered organizations,” Greenwood said.
The bill passed both the Senate and the House, at 31-0-1 and 40-1-3 respectively. Creel and Black said they will be vetoing the bill.
“It’s not within SGA policy to fund student organizations that are not chartered. As undergraduate student body president, I see it as my duty to uphold the SGA bylaws,” Creel said.
“I’m open to considering reasons for allowing non-chartered organizations to be funded through the SAF, but for now we need stick to policy. If existing large student organizations want to access the SAF as a funding source, all they need to do is get chartered,” Black said.
SHPE
The Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE) submitted a bill asking for funding to attend a national conference in Calif. SHPE Treasurer Mark Vaisberg gave details about the conference itself, at which Provost Rafael Bras will speak.
The UHR and GSS both amended the bill to a finalized amount of $2353.62 to reflect the new federal reimbursement rate and the maximum allocation possible for campus organization conferences before passing the bill.