The University of Chicago’s Independent Student Newspaper since 1892

Chicago Maroon

The University of Chicago’s Independent Student Newspaper since 1892

Chicago Maroon

The University of Chicago’s Independent Student Newspaper since 1892

Chicago Maroon

SGFC plans to keep RSOs funded for school year

At the next Student Assembly (SA) session on November 3, the SA will consider resolutions to adjust Student Government Finance Committee (SGFC) funding practices. The committee, which allocates the student activities fee to Registered Student Organizations (RSOs), drew criticism last year when it ran out of its annual funds during second week of spring quarter.

David Courchaine, SGFC’s vice-chair, said that the changes were not made last year because the SA did not have the time to properly study them.

Robert Hubbard, the president of Student Government, said he was requiring the committee to keep detailed notes. “This way we will have as much information as possible,” Hubbard said.

Bret Kadison, a slate vice-president, said that the slate would not comment on specific changes in funding guidelines. However, some of the ideas that were reported at the end of last year include limiting fall and winter quarter allocations to forty percent of the total funds. Money would be deducted from the budget for each quarter based on the date of the event rather than the date of funding approval.

Other reforms include increasing the number of RSO audits; SGFC would outsource these audits to a subcommittee of non-SA members. Ben Mainzer, last year’s SGFC chair, has said that this “was to give SGFC more time to do the things it needed to do.” In the past, audits were allocated to individual members of SGFC. SGFC would also ask RSOs to fundraise as a supplement for expensive events.

During SGFC’s first meeting on Wednesday, the committee was presented with fourteen RSO requests for a total of $12,577.39. It allocated $8,467 to twelve RSOs.

One of the more interesting SGFC allocations, which are unofficial until they are approved at the next College Council and Graduate Council meetings, included $999 for three community speakers. The money will go to Angels of Def, which is holding its event in the Cobb Coffee Shop to promote the growing Woodlawn community. Angels of Def said it expects approximately 75 people to attend the event.

Also, SGFC allocated $1,200 to the Middle Eastern Dance Society for a dance instructor and $642 for costumes, in preparation for a show in the middle of the year. The society said that 15 people were learning the dance, according to Courchaine, who was at the meeting.

Seven students sit on SGFC; they all serve on the SA. Siddharth Bhammar, David Courchaine, Nina Chihambakwe, and Kyle Lee are College Council members, while Vincenzo Barbetta, Anne Harrington, and Gretchen Guffy sit on the Graduate Council. Barbetta is the chair of the committee.

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