The Student Finance Board (SFB) passed a motion to fund the College Democrats' request to bring "Comedy Against Evil," a political comedy team, to the College on March 22.
"I think the event will definitely draw people," Erica Klazmer, sophomore representative, said.
Although some members brought up the issue that the College Democrats would not be contributing any fundraising money to the event, the board agreed that this particular event merited total SFB funding.
"If it's a program for everybody and not just for the club, then I don't have a problem with them not fundraising," Julia Pratt, executive director, said.
Upon eliminating one of the two Signal advertisements the College Democrats requested, the board passed a motion 14-1 to fund the event for $2,151.
PEANUTS received $1,018 in outdoor recreational funding for its annual whitewater rafting trip, which is open to the College community.
PEANUTS had not received outdoor recreational funding this year because it received it in years past. This year, SFB strived to fairly allocate this funding so that other organizations can use it.
Outdoor recreational funds are not SFB funds but are taken from a separate portion of the College's money. The original purpose was to fund programs involving leadership-building activities and environmental education, but now this fund is synonymous with any kind of outdoor recreation.
SFB fully funds programs that correspond with the original purpose of the funding, but it will provide up to 50 percent of the funding for "fun" activities (such as paintball and horseback riding) for organizations.
Although PEANUTS was denied these funds earlier in the school year, SFB saw the request as valuable, citing a distinctive difference between its request and other organizations' requests to simply plan a fun trip.
"This (trip) is for the whole campus and is part of their mission as a club," Blair Gumnic, Student Government Association representative for SFB, said.
PEANUTS' mission, as stated on its Web site, is "to provide (the College) community with fun activities that are alcohol and drug-free in nature."
A motion passed 14-0 to fully fund the request.
Water Watch, a group dedicated to improving water quality in the Trenton area, requested funding to bring speaker Dave Paxon of the World Population Balance to the College. According to Water Watch, he will talk about the "correlation between population growth, environment and economy."
Water Watch's request for funding included eight nights of hotel fees and a plane ticket. Although Paxon would only speak for one day at the College, Water Watch had hoped that he would also speak at surrounding colleges, as well as elementary, middle and high schools.
The organization hoped that the other schools would make a contribution so that any money SFB gives would eventually be reimbursed. However, board members were wary of providing funding to Water Watch when it could not guarantee that the other schools would give funding.
"What they're trying to do is a nice idea," Pratt said, but she cited that SFB is "not in the business" of funding events for students who are not part of the College community.
After much discussion, the board passed a motion 12-3 to table it until a later date.
The College's Field Hockey Club also requested funding for its national tournament in April.
As with past conference requests, the board passed a motion to fund the club $510, half of the $1,019 requested, to send 16 players to the tournament.
Club Baseball requested $1,670 funding to pay for its home games this semester.
SFB policy gives club sports $146 (the average cost of a club sport home game) for each of the home games requested when allocating money before a season. Board members then agreed to give Club Baseball $1,168 - $146 for the eight games requested - by passing a motion 15-0.
As they did last week, board members discussed upcoming budget issues.
The board hopes to separate club sports from the conference line, possibly creating a Club Sports Council. Club sports would operate separately, allocating a set sum of money given by SFB among the organizations.
According to Pratt, the teams would no longer rely on SFB to make decisions for them and would instead "fight it out themselves."
Another issue that the board will soon tackle is the Child Care Center in Forcina Hall, which currently receives $10,000 of SFB funding per year. This year, however, only one or two students have been utilizing the center, causing the board to question the need for SFB funds.
Pratt spoke about possibly eliminating conferences entirely, except for the National Association for Campus Activities (NACA) annual conference. Although the NACA conference has been attended exclusively by College Union Board (CUB) members, Pratt believes that many of the larger organizations on campus, such as the Black Student Union and Uni?n Latina, can also benefit from going to the conference.
Pratt asked the board to consider sending CUB members and a member from each of the other organizations to the conference, taking the place of the organizations' specific conference requests.
Pratt said she hopes eliminating costs at the end of this year will bulk up the high volume line in SFB, so that she will be remembered for giving the College's students the kinds of programs they want: big names and sell-outs at the Recreational Center.
"My goal this entire year is to think about all 5,600 students at this college," Pratt said.
