Gannon University’s Student Government Association (SGA) announced its new funding guidelines for clubs and organizations at its meeting Thursday.
One major change SGA plans to enforce this year is the process by which organizations present their funding requests. Instead of asking for money during the general assembly meeting, clubs and organizations now have to present their case in front of the Budget and Finances Committee, a branch of the SGA.
According to SGA President Angela Coustillac, the purpose of the change was to save time during general assembly meetings as members would normally spend from 10 to 30 minutes debating whether to give funding to a group, and then give it anyway.
“SGA has never denied a club funding in the past three years,” Coustillac said.
The regulation, Coustillac said, also utilizes the Budget and Finance Committee as it is its responsibility to look into funding requests in more detail to make sure the money is used appropriately.
The committee is formed of five voting members: SGA treasurer Taylor Shaffer, four class chairmen and the nonvoting vice president of clubs and organizations, Erica Rider.
“It all comes down to representation and making sure we’re representing every student of the student body as well as we can,” Coustillac said.
If a club wants to request funding, a representative should attend the committee’s meeting and explain what they would be using the money for and what they would learn from their project or event. The representative will then leave the room and allow the committee members to vote on the proposal.
Club heads will then attend the general assembly meeting the following day when the 50 assembly members vote on funding requests presented to them by Shaffer. The representative will then have the right to appeal the committee’s decision within 30 days of the denial date.
Any of these members has the right to ask for an informal vote to reopen a case. If 25 percent or more of the members vote in agreement, the case is open for discussion again.
“It goes both ways,” Coustillac said. “If a club is denied funding we can open the case again to grant them funding or if a club was granted funding and we are not sure if it’s going to proper use, we can re-open that case and we can deny their funding.”
According to Coustillac, a club can be denied funding for several reasons. For instance, a club may be denied funding if its submitted paperwork is incorrect or incomplete, or if the money is not going to benefit the club members or the student body.
Other new regulations include having all the forms filled out electronically on sgalive.gannon.edu, including GU Gold machines and fundraising requests. SGA is also offering funding for student’s special and educational projects.
Jeff Solensky, president of the Zeta Beta Tau chapter at Gannon, said the new regulations will make proceedings easier for clubs and organizations.
“I am encouraged about having to filling out forms digitally,” Solensky said. “Everything is online and easy to find, which keeps the process organized.”
