Student Assembly

Whereas, the Student Assembly (the Assembly) has both legislative and judicial authority over the Student Assembly Finance Commission (the Commission);

Whereas, many groups and students seemed confused by certain parts of the guidelines during the application and appeals process this year;

Whereas, many groups are capped on funds they do request, and money that is issued by the SAFC but is not spent is unable to be used by groups during that semester and rolls over to the next,

Whereas, the current Special Projects system does not allow money to be granted to Student Organizations that erred in their original application;

Whereas, the Assembly has seen appeals from a number of groups on the basis that they erred in their application and were unable to receive SAFC funding;

Whereas, many student groups who err in their application are often still deserving of funds;

Whereas, in order to obtain Administrative funding a group must simply turn in a budget by the submission deadline for SAFC budgets;

Whereas, Section 1.3 of the Assembly Charter titled “Welfare of the Student Community” states:
”The SA will have the authority and the responsibility to examine any matters which involve the interests or concern the welfare of the student community and to make proposals concerning those issues to the appropriate officers or decision-making bodies of the University.”

Be it therefore resolved that the second section of Section 9.3.2 of the SAFC Funding Guidelines titled “Local Events�Eligibility” be modified as follows with additions in bold and deletions in strikethough:

The applicant:

• must include documentation of a reservation for a room or practice space in its request (unless the request is specifically requesting funds to reserve the venue �see Venue Fees below), even if it enjoys exclusive control over the room.

Be it therefore resolved Section 9.5, titled “Durable Goods: Eligible Expenses: Equipment” be modified as follows with additions in bold and deletions in strikethough:

Eligible Expenses

Equipment

Applicant includes in its application:

• a list of items requested with the following for each:
  • quantity of item,
  • total request for item,
  • unit price for item,
  • the cost of shipping the item, if desired, by the cheapest means available (express shipment will not be funded),
  • detailed description and explanation of purpose of equipment, and
  • specify where item will be stored; and,
• Price Quote documentation for each item.
• Inventory Report Form, if durable good funding was requested, granted, and spent in past semester(s).

Be it further resolved that the second section of Section 9.4.2 of the SAFC Funding Guidelines titled “Travel�Eligibility for Funding” be modified as follows with additions in bold and deletions in strikethough:
Applicant includes in its application:

• a Proof of Travel Event documentation;
• a written explanation of how participation in the event supports the mission of the organization;
• documentation confirming the dates of event (if not included in the Proof of Travel Event documentation); and,
• documentation confirming the location where the event will occur (if not included in the Proof of Travel Event documentation).

Be it further resolved that the second section of Section 3.3.2 of the SAFC Funding Guidelines titled “Special Project Funding�Eligible Items” be modified as follows with additions in bold and deletions in strikethough:

Eligible Items

An applicant may request additional funding for any expenses in its budget or for entirely new expenses under the following conditions:

• applicant meets criteria for eligibility;
• special project funding application is submitted before a deadline in the calendar such that the commission will render a decision before any additional requested funding must be used;
• additional funds are needed because either:
  • the applicant has new circumstances which:
    • support a higher allocation than the original circumstances of the application, and
    • could not have been reasonably anticipated or mitigated by the organization before it submitted its original request; or,
  • the applicant:
    • has received no funding in any categories other than Administrative Expenses in its original application or received $0 in funding during this funding cycle, and
    • has not submitted any other special project request in the current funding cycle.

Each special project request must be limited to one category of supported expenses.

Be it further resolved that the second section of Section 11.2 of the SAFC Funding Guidelines titled “Documentation�Proof of Travel Distance” be modified as follows with additions in bold and deletions in strikethough:

Proof of Travel Distance

Where mileage is provided to support a request for travel funding (ie. air travel, costs for gas per mile), the applicant organization must provide proof of round trip distance. The documentation provided to support a request for travel funding must include:

• proof of round trip distance, satisfied by a printout directly from a mileage and directions website such as, but not limited to Google Maps, and,
• the travel distance calculated to and from Ithaca, New York.

Be it further resolved that the second section of Section 9.4.2 of the SAFC Funding Guidelines titled “Travel�Eligibility for Funding” be modified as follows with additions in bold and deletions in strikethough:

All travel expenses outside the contiguous United States will be limited to total funding of $1500. To be eligible for full funding, a travel expense must be either within the contiguous United States or within 400 miles of Ithaca, NY. All other requests that do not meet either of these requirements will be limited to total funding of $1500.

Be it finally resolved that the second section of Section 9.5.4 of the SAFC Funding Guidelines titled “Durable Goods�Prohibited Expenses” be modified as follows with additions in bold and deletions in strikethough:

Prohibited Expenses

The commission does not fund any item which:

• is purchased for personalized use;
• cannot will not be stored in an on-campus facility managed by the organization or its advisor;
• duplicates functionality or service already available on campus;
• is used to produce publicity items;
• is an office good such as, but not limited to:
  • pens,
  • pencils,
  • markers,
  • paper,
  • filing cabinets,
  • hole punches,
  • staplers,
  • and paperweights; or,
• is among the following:
  • media for physical copying or production of music or video,
  • videogame hardware, software, video games, and other games,
  • refrigerator, or
  • flash drives and hard-drives.

Respectfully submitted,

Kevin Song ‘12
SAFC Co-Chair

Lauren Rosenblum ‘11
SAFC Co-Chair

Roneal Desai ‘13
At-large Minority Representative to the Student Assembly