Business Affairs is creating a Senate subcommittee to work with the Campus Readership program, which will eventually bring free speakers and events to campus.

Campus Life sold $2,467 of campus goods at the lowest available price to students on the Friday of Homecoming. Campus Life will continue to work with Carnegie Mellon staff member Anita Barkin on the Healthy Campus 2010 smoking policy.

Development and Communications are working on filling vacancies in HSS, CFA, CIT and SCS. Each college has one vacancy left, except for CFA which has two.

In the General Body Meeting, most of the meeting was spent on special elections and on hearing eight funding motions that had piled up over midsemester break. For details on each one, see the Funding section below.  

We elected new representatives from the difficult-to-fill seats of CFA and SHS/BHA/BSA, welcoming sophomore Emily Giacomarra and first-year Cyrus Larijani to Student Senate, and leaving only five vacancies (one in HSS, CIT, and SCS, two in CFA). The General Body also elected the Joint Funding Committee slate for the fall, which will not necessarily be the same in the spring for the JFC process. The members are MCS junior Kelly Duncan, HSS junior Alan Eaton, HSS first-year Rotimi Amibola, CFA sophomore Samantha Simmons, and MCS sophomore Evan Osheroff.

Additionally, after a mix-up regarding the Dining Advisory Council election four weeks ago, Student Body President and HSS senior Karl Sjogren came to the meeting to clarify the constitutional issues so that the vote could take place again in accordance the DAC's guidelines. The issue was whether or not there were two representatives from Student Senate, or just one. Unsurprisingly, Senate re-elected Duncan to be the representative to the DAC just as it did four weeks ago.

Student Senate would also like to formally announce that there is a vacancy in HSS, SCS, CIT, and there are two in CFA. Any interested students should begin attending General Body Meetings (Thursdays at 5 p.m. in DH 2210), and also get a petition from the UC Info Desk or the Senate website. 

Academic Affairs:Evan Osheroff
Business Affairs:Jared Itkowitz
Campus Life:Kelly Duncan
Development and Communications:Justin Berka, Gerrit Betz (co-chairs)
Funding:Joel Bergstein
Senate Chair:Emily Leathers

$300 to Taiwanese Students Association for Culture Night 2006

Date: November 18, 2006

Request: Culture Night is a yearly event sponsored by TSA and 10 other cultural organizations on campus. The goal of Culture Night is to bring cultural awareness to campus. TSA is hoping to lower ticket prices this year and include free admission to faculty, staff, and administration. The event is expected to get 500 people and will be held in Rangos.

Committee Decision: This event is almost entirely funded by its JFC budget and ticket sales. While lowering ticket prices is honorable, the committee felt that $300 in ticket supplementation would be enough to still attract a large amount of students, especially given the past popularity and scope of the event.

Vote: Simple Majority
Media Restriction: None
Original Request: $600

The General Body voted 13-6-2 to pass the motion, but debated over whether or not the money was really necessary to lower the cost of the event since it was $10 last year, and would be around $6 this year even without a Student Senate subsidy reducing it to $3.

$250 to SPIRIT for Stepping Beyond Your Ethnic Community

Date: October 27, 2006 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

Request: Stepping Beyond Your Ethnic Community is a cultural forum that will allow other campus cultural groups to gain a unique and insightful look into the SPIRIT organization and the black community of Carnegie Mellon. In addition, faculty and staff members have been invited to the event, allowing for open channels between student organizations and the greater Carnegie Mellon community. The event will be in Hamburg Hall Auditorium (HBH 1000) and the expected attendance is 85 people.

Committee Decision: The committee decided to fund $250, which is food for 45 people. The committee felt that given SPIRIT had a JFC budget, they should seek outside sources of funding in addition to Student Government.

Vote: ¾ Supermajority
Media Restriction: None
Original Request: $463.89

The General Body voted overwhelmingly to pass this motion with a vote of 19-0-2.

$500 to Minority Association of Pre-Health Students (MAPS) for MAPS: Pre-Health Admissions Process Seminars

Date: October 26, 2006, November 9, 2006, and November 20, 2006

Request: MAPS will be hosting a three-part seminar series for those interested in learning about the admissions process for various pre-health professional programs (i.e., medical, dental, and pharmacy schools). These three events will be open to the entire campus community. The series include information sessions and test preparation provided by Kaplan. Expected attendance is about 60 people.

Committee Decision: MAPS recently went through its first year of JFC funding, and as a result needs additional funding to hold additional events outside their JFC budget. Additionally, the committee felt the event did not have an academic purpose, nor would it effect a participant's grade. Rather, the event will provide information, open to the entire community.

Vote: ¾ Supermajority
Media Restriction: None
Original Request: $500

The General Body failed this motion with a vote of 10-8-3.  While 10-8 is a simple majority, it is not a supermajority of 3/4ths which is required for funding certain type of events, notably food for events. The debate on this motion centered around whether or not the food was essential to the events themselves, and whether it would actually draw attendance, especially given that people who are applying to medical schools would most likely seek this information out regardless of food. Those in support of the motion claimed that it was not unreasonable to have some food at an information session.

Later the motion was re-opened for further debate and consideration, but ultimately failed on the same grounds as before, this time with a narrower vote of 10-6-2 (three senators had left by this time, explaining the lower vote count).

$1,646 to International Relations Organization for McGill Model United Nations Conference (McMUNC)

Date: January 25-28, 2006

Request: The IRO is requesting additional funding to cover delegate fess and school registration fees for the McGill Conference as well as assistance with travel expenses.  McMUNC brings together 1400 students from top universities around the world to create a world-class conference. IRO will be sending eight representatives to this conference

Committee Decision: The committee decided to fund the school registration fee, the delegate fees, and half of the hotel cost of a total of $1,646. Student Senate encourages groups to pay for half of their travel and lodging cost. Also, IRO can pull funding from unused JFC allocation items for conferences they no longer attend.

Vote: ¾ Supermajority
Media Restriction: None
Original Request: $5,402

The General Body narrowly failed this motion with a vote of 12-6-3 (again, 3/4th was necessary for passage).  Those for the motion claimed that the high cost was justifiable because the group had hit financial hard times that were likely only to occur this year ($2,000 of their JFC budget was unexpectedly no longer available), whereas those against passage felt that the opportunity cost of spending $1,646 was too great for only eight people, when it could otherwise be spent on events that engage a larger group of CMU students.

$2,820 to Cycling Club for Spring '07 Road Season

Date: Spring 2007

Request: The Cycling Club is requesting additional funding to support their Spring 2007 race season. In the fall of 2006, the Cycling Club saw unprecedented interested in their club. In addition, the Cycling Club won the title in the Eastern Collegiate Cycling Conference Division 2 during the Fall 2006 Mountain Bike Racing Season.

Committee Decision: The committee decided to fund money for three race fees, gas, and hotels for a total of $2,820. The Cycling Club is experiencing a resurgence after being defunct for years. Given the small JFC budget of only $1000, the Finance Committee decided to fund enough money to get the club on its feet for the spring season. Additionally, if members cover the 50 percent for hotels and fees that Senate expects from groups, this will allow the Cycling Club to attend six races this season.

Vote: ¾ Supermajority
Media Restriction: None
Original Request: $12,580

The General Body passed this motion with a vote of 19-0-2. Senators were largely for the motion because it was supporting something on campus that students were very clearly excited about, since the club's membership went from non-existent to 30 or more students in one semester.

$578 to Pittsburgh Lion Dance Association for Lion Dance Equipment

Date: none

Request: The Pittsburgh Lion Dance Association is currently using equipment that is well over four years old. It is suffering from the usual wear and tear and needs to be replaced so that they can continue to perform at year round events. These events include: Mid Autumn Festival, TSA's Culture Night, ARCC's One Night in Beijing, and the Chinese New Year Banquet. In past, they have also performed for the Andrew Carnegie Society Dinner, the Tepper School International Festival, and the Community Collage during freshman Orientation. They also perform at many other off-campus events for free.

Committee Decision: The committee decided that this was a good allocation of funds, and will serve as a long term investment as the equipment should last at least four years. Potentially, the Lion Dance Association can apply for a JFC budget to help with further capital improvement and other events they wish to hold.

Vote: Simple Majority
Media Restriction: None
Original Request: $578

The General Body passed this motion 19-0-2, citing the Lion Dance's popularity on campus and off.

$260 to Big Brothers Big Sister (BBBS) of CMU for Yearly Budget

Date: Fall 2006 and Spring 2007

Request: BBBS is an organization which allows for CMU students to help tutor financially disadvantaged youths in the greater Pittsburgh area. They usually receive their funding from the BBBS of Pittsburgh chapter, but due to low budgets, the CMU chapter was not allocated any money.

Committee Decision: The committee decided to fund gas for the rest of this semester ($140) and the annual pizza party ($120). These are the essential events to the club because travel is needed to get the tutors to the children, and the pizza party is a chance for all the tutors and the all the children to get together on campus and share time together. We encourage BBBS of CMU to get in touch with BBBS of Pittsburgh once the next fiscal year starts to receive funding, and if they are still unable to receive money, they should return to the Finance Committee with a second request if needed.

Vote: ¾ Supermajority
Media Restriction: None
Original Request: $1105

The General Body debated this motion on the grounds that the pizza party at the end of the year wasn't really open to any CMU students, and was more for the children who weren't students than anything else. This is not to say that the BBBS's goals are not noble, but maybe not what the Student Activities Fee is for. The other side of the argument was that this was an exception to the rule, and that Student Senate could justifiably fund this group anyway since students involved in it benefit from helping others, and whenever CMU reaches out into the community, a mutual benefit is achieved. A motion to reduce the allocation to $140 (funding the cost of transportation but not pizza) failed 4-11, and the final vote passed narrowly with a ¾ majority at 12-4-2 for the original sum of $260.

$750 to Carnegie Clan for Subsidizing Tickets for Tartan Basketball Game

Date: November 1, 2006

Request: The Tartan Basketball team is playing at the Peterson Event Center versus University of Pittsburgh for a pre-season scrimmage. Tickets are $25, but Carnegie Clan is subsidizing 150 tickets down to only $10. They have already received promises of money from Dean of Student Affairs and Student Life.

Committee Decision: The committee decided to allocate $750, or a third of the total subsidy cost. This way the Dean of Student Affairs, Student Life, and Student Senate can all fund a third of the total subsidy.

Vote: Simple Majority
Media Restriction: None
Original Request: $800

The General Body passed this motion 10-5-2, with some opposition based on the fact that the tickets had already been sold at a subsidized price before the motion had come before Senate. Those who supported the motion felt that the Carnegie Clan probably couldn't have gotten to a meeting any sooner since there was no meeting last week (October 19), and also noted that every senator agreed with the event in principle, even if there were some misgivings about how the motion came to pass. 

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