2008 Woodie Awards
SGA members disagree over dispersal of student funds
Amanda Bergeron
Issue date: 11/17/05 Section: News
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Tempers flared at a recent Student Government Association (SGA) joint session meeting as board members debated whether to grant funds to two students wishing to produce a film supported by Frames Per Second (FPS), Emerson College's largest student film organization. The appeal came from senior audio major Tina Gradilone and senior TV/video major Konrad Brattke, who asked the board for $900 to help fulfill the needs for their short film project, "Ad Lib."
Discussion ensued as differing viewpoints took center stage, while members discussed how to allocate the $140,000 pool account the SGA has available for student use.
"I have serious reservations about setting the precedent for the funding of individual projects," SGA Treasurer and senior organizational and political communication major Katie Caponera said at the meeting. "This [pool] isn't an endless account that refills itself."
SGA Vice President Samantha King, a senior organizational and political communication major, disagreed.
"They [Gradilone and Brattke] come to us with a proposal they obviously put a lot of time and work into," King said. "There is no reason not to give it to them."
The board voted down Gradilone and Brattke's request six to four, with three abstentions. Later, a compromise was proposed by Visual Media Arts (VMA) Senator Fred Young to give the pair $250.
In an interview with The Beacon, Caponera explained how the allocation and appeals processes work.
Each year, Emerson College undergraduates are required to pay a student activities fee as part of their tuition bill. This charge, which currently stands at $160 per student, goes toward funding for on-campus groups and organizations, she said, adding that Emerson collected around $448,000 for the 2005-06 academic year.
The fees for students attending the Los Angeles and Kasteel Well programs are subtracted from this collected sum and The Beacon receives 8 percent of the total before the money makes its way into the hands of the Financial Advisory Board (FAB), which reviews the budget proposals of the nearly 70 student organizations on campus, Caponera said.
Discussion ensued as differing viewpoints took center stage, while members discussed how to allocate the $140,000 pool account the SGA has available for student use.
"I have serious reservations about setting the precedent for the funding of individual projects," SGA Treasurer and senior organizational and political communication major Katie Caponera said at the meeting. "This [pool] isn't an endless account that refills itself."
SGA Vice President Samantha King, a senior organizational and political communication major, disagreed.
"They [Gradilone and Brattke] come to us with a proposal they obviously put a lot of time and work into," King said. "There is no reason not to give it to them."
The board voted down Gradilone and Brattke's request six to four, with three abstentions. Later, a compromise was proposed by Visual Media Arts (VMA) Senator Fred Young to give the pair $250.
In an interview with The Beacon, Caponera explained how the allocation and appeals processes work.
Each year, Emerson College undergraduates are required to pay a student activities fee as part of their tuition bill. This charge, which currently stands at $160 per student, goes toward funding for on-campus groups and organizations, she said, adding that Emerson collected around $448,000 for the 2005-06 academic year.
The fees for students attending the Los Angeles and Kasteel Well programs are subtracted from this collected sum and The Beacon receives 8 percent of the total before the money makes its way into the hands of the Financial Advisory Board (FAB), which reviews the budget proposals of the nearly 70 student organizations on campus, Caponera said.
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