In a unanimous decision, Associated Students, Inc. voted against a previous motion to decrease funding for historical organizations Wednesday at 2 p.m. in Jack Adams Hall.
SF State historic organizations currently receive a total of $85,000 in funding each year for events. After a two-week debate regarding budget relocation, ASI voted to keep the current funding model for the organizations, but included three additions: All student organizations must be fully registered with the university before requesting money from ASI, student groups requesting funding must provide a full budget to the Finance Committee and ASI will not accept new historic events until they (ASI) define the term ‘historic.’
“We (the Finance Committee) took the last two finance meetings to get input from students and we took the students’ concerns into consideration,” Vice President of Finance Niza Del Carmen said. “Going forward, we want to be more sustainable and do what’s best for all student organizations.”
Phoebe Dye speaks into the microphone. (Qing Huang/Xpress)
Members from the historic organizations, which included Hermanos Unidos, Student Kouncil of Intertribal Nations and the Black Student Union, attended the voting and said they are pleased with the outcome.
“I believe this decision is just a Band-Aid, it is not the final solution, but it is a start,” said Hermanos Unidos Outreach and Alumni Chair Christian Rivera Nolan. “We definitely need to move toward increasing the budget.”
ASI President Phoebe Dye said the ultimate decision was made after listening to students opinions and their stance on funding issues. The committee took the students’ input to heart, according to Dye, who cautioned that maintaining the current model will eventually create equality issues in how funds are distributed for each student organization.
“It feels like a small victory, but there’s still a lot that needs to happen,” said S.K.I.N.S Outreach Coordinator and MECHA member Savanah Maya. “ASI needs to make sure the organizations do not feel threatened again, because threatening the organizations is threatening their existence.”
