Student Assembly

Sponsored by: Roneal Desai ‘13, Cameron Pritchett ‘15, Don Muir ‘15

Whereas, the Appropriations Committee is the chartered committee of the Student Assembly responsible for allocating the Student Activity Fee;

Whereas, the Appropriations Committee is tasked with holding check-in meetings with by-line funded organizations during non- byline funding years;

Whereas, during non-byline funding years, the chair of the Appropriations Committee (the Student Assembly Vice President of Finance) is responsible for writing a summary report detailing the Committee’s recommendations for each by-line funded group;

Whereas, many student organizations are in need of further financial consultation from sitting Appropriations Committee members;

Be it Therefore Resolved, a section XI of Appendix A (“Appendix A: Guidelines for the Allocation of the Student Activity Fee”) be added to the Student Assembly Charter before the current Section XI, “Amendment” (with all following sections renumbered accordingly) the current as written:

XI. Non-Byline Funding Years

• A. Non-byline funding year hearings
  • a. Each byline funded organization is required to present to the Appropriations Committee at least once during each non-byline funding year (ie. academic years ending in odd numbers such as 2012–13, 2014–15, etc). The Committee is required to make a good faith effort to understand the operations and structure of each byline funded organization in making its recommendations and evaluations.
• B. Report
  • 1. The Vice President of Finance shall write a report summarizing the Appropriation Committee’s recommendations to each group on how they can improve their operations or structure to more effectively fulfill the goal of a byline funded organization (set out in the Student Assembly Charter, Appendix A, Attachment A, Section E, Subsection 1). This report must include a vote of each voting member of the Appropriations Committee on whether they would recommend to increase, decrease, or maintain the byline funded organization’s current allocation from the Student Activity Fee along with the overall sentiment of the committee (as determined by the option which receives the largest number of votes).
  • 2. Each byline funded group must receive their report within a one-week period following their hearing. The reports must also be included in the Student Assembly agenda in the week following their release to their respective group.
  • 3. These reports must be released to the entirety of the membership of the Appropriations Committee and Student Assembly during the following academic year of their initial release (ie. the next byline funding year), although the members of the Assembly and the Committee during the funding year are not obligated to follow the recommendations put forth in the reports.
• C. Follow-up Task Force
  • 1. A Follow-up Task Force will be responsible for meeting with a byline funded organization solely for the purpose of reviewing the recommendations of the Appropriations Committee, as stipulated in the report released by the Vice President of Finance, and providing a feedback mechanism to members of the current and future Appropriations Committee regarding the practicality of any recommendations made in the official report released by the Vice President of Finance along with any efforts made by the organizations to comply with the sentiment of the recommendations provided in the aforementioned report. The Task Force is required to make a good faith effort to understand the operations and structure when meeting with each byline funded organization.
  • 2. The Task Force will be required to meet with any bylined funded organization that the Appropriations Committee recommended a decrease in funding for during the non-byline funding year for the following funding cycle. Additionally, the Appropriations Committee can require the Task Force to follow up with any additional organizations by a majority vote, regardless of their funding recommendation for the following byline funding cycle. Any byline funded organization may also request a meeting the Task Force which is then obligated to meet with them. The Task Force must meet with designated groups within six weeks of the Vice President of Finance releasing the report to the aforementioned byline funded organization. Only one meeting between the Task Force and the byline funded organization is required. The Assembly reserves the right to overturn any part of the report.
  • 3. The Vice President of Finance will appoint and the Student Assembly will confirm, by a majority vote of members present, two voting members of the Appropriations Committee to serve as co-chairs of the Task Force. In addition to the co-chairs, the Task Force will consist of the liaison from the Student Assembly to the respective byline funded organization that the Task Force is meeting with, and selected members from the Appropriations Committee chosen by the co-chairs. The size of the Task Force is up to the discretion of the co-chairs, but should not exceed five persons, including the co-chairs but not including the liaisons to the byline funded organizations from the Student Assembly.
  • 4. The Task Force will be required to submit a report detailing its follow up with any organization to the Appropriations Committee by the end of the academic school year,
    • 1. The purpose of the reports submitted by the Task Force is to provide a feedback mechanism to members of the current and future Appropriations Committee regarding the Task Force’s opinion of the practicality of the organization applying the recommendations made in the official report released by the Vice President of Finance along with any efforts made or planned by the organizations to respond to the sentiment of the recommendations provided in the aforementioned report.
    • 2. Each group for which a report is submitted has the option of either approving the report or submitting a separate statement in writing responding to the report of the Task Force and/or the report issued by the Vice President of Finance, which must be included with the report of the Vice President of Finance to any respective parties it is sent to.

Respectfully Submitted,

Roneal Desai ‘13
Vice President of Finance
Student Assembly

Cameron Pritchett ‘15
Minority Liaison At-Large Representative
Liaison to the Student Assembly Finance Commission
Student Assembly

Don Muir ‘15
Arts & Sciences Representative
Student Assembly

(Reviewed by: Appropriations Committee, 1/28/2013)
(Approved by: Appropriations Committee, 11–0−0; 1/28/2013)