PSGA Blog Number 20: Budget Approved

The PSGA approved the 2009-2010 budget on Wednesday, April 29 after several clubs, organizations, and services expressed concerns with some of its figures. In defense of the budget vote, Chair of Senate Russell Zambito eventually moved the meeting to a closed session so the Senate could deliberate without interruptions.

Among the clubs, organizations, and services affected by the budget, the most vocal were representatives from PUSH Ideas Into Action and Tech Services, who attended the meeting to ask why they were seeing cuts in their budgets. Finance Coordinator Danielle DePalma said that some of the expenses, especially for PUSH, were cut because they could have been pursued by other means, referring to them as “unnecessary expenses.”

Zambito said the budget had to be passed at the meeting or the PSGA funds would be frozen until later in the summer, which required unpaid efforts by PSGA officials to revise the figures.

In his executive report, Zambito said the PSGA received several applications for the next round of elections including Major Events Coordinator, General Programming Coordinator, Student Activities Coordinator, and Coordinator of Histories and Documents. He said the second round of elections received far more applicants than the first, which included positions such as President, Finance Coordinator, Coordinator of Clubs, Organizations, and Services, and Chair of the Senate.

Before the meeting, Head of Tech Services Ed Willock stood outside the Red Room where the Senate would soon meet and announced to the campus through a microphone and speakers the time and place of the budget vote, hoping that students would take responsibility for their $95 Mandatory Student Activity Fee. By the end of the meeting, Willock’s efforts to persuade the Senate to change the money being cut from Tech Services were unsuccessful as the vote took place under Zambito’s orders for a closed session.