The Allocations Board began its first meeting of the semester by divvying up funds for student groups as well as adding new bylaws concerning absentee AB voting.
“Groups requested over a million dollars in money for this semester alone and our total budget for the year is approximately $400,000,” AB chairwoman Jennifer Quigley said.
While most student groups only submitted appeals, requests and reallocations of funds via email or paper forms, representatives from a few student groups, such as Spectrum, came to appeal their cases in person.
Members of Spectrum — BU’s Gay Lesbian Bisexual and Transgendered Social Organization — presented an appeal because the group had not been allocated money for its main event QUEERnivale, a festival including musical acts that promotes gay rights.
“We meticulously planned this event,” School of Education junior Bridget McNulty said. “When we didn’t receive funding, we felt like it completely dismissed our group. We sort of feel a little bit marginalized about only receiving funding for the Drag Ball when QUEERnival is our main event.”
College of Arts and Sciences senior Raul Brens Jr. also added his view on the situation.
“We think it’s a pretty good use of ‘Partially supported by your Undergrad Student Fee,'” Spectrum representative Brens said. “[The Spectrum executive] board this year has really made an effort to make Spectrum a big deal on campus . . . General membership has pretty much tripled not only as a separate organization but as a part of BU’s campus as a whole.”
Quigley later responded to Brens’ reference to the student fee slogan.
“I think it’s a good check on us to watch the way that we word things and to make sure that we’re not being insensitive about things.” Quigley said.
Spectrum has already received funding for two events this semester and AB noted that if the group were to receive any more funding it would be one of the most funded groups on campus.
“They have to cut it down to make it work,” AB Treasurer Alex Krause said.
Quigley said Spectrum is one of the most popular groups on campus, and the board eventually voted to partially allocate funds for the event.
Funds were also allocated or reallocated to other student groups including On Broadway, The Media TV and Entertainment Club, the BU Linguistic Association and Health at Hands.
The AB also discussed bylaws concerning rules for members on leaves of absence. Each proposed bylaw was approved.
“Someone who’s on leave of absence doesn’t count towards the number of people required to be on the majority, but they can show up and become an active member of that meeting,” AB Vice Chairman Soren Hessler said.
The collection of bylaws will revoke special privileges for AB members who are absent at meetings. Email votes will only be accepted when a two-thirds majority vote is necessitated.