Boston University’s Student Government noted in last Monday’s meeting that roughly $15,000 of their remaining budget of $21,257.41 is reserved for Cabinet events. The funding of these events is meant to foster a greater sense of community on campus and empower student groups to fulfill their missions.
Eva Jungreis, SG’s vice president of internal affairs, wrote in an email that the $15,000 is set aside for Cabinet event expenses. These funds go toward every expense or event put on by the Department of Academic Affairs, the Department of Environmental Affairs, the Department of Events and all other Cabinet departments.
Bernie Lai, the vice president of finance, said some of the events the $15,000 can fund have already taken place and some are going to happen in the future.
Lai said the SG funded events hosted by Environmental Affairs included a Jane Goodall film screening and a laundry room initiative to encourage students to save energy by using cold water. Academic Affairs will use some of the allocated money for their annual finals care package event and a “professor prom.”
SG is attempting to be seen not as an allocations board but as an organization that advocates for students, Lai said. As such, the Department of Events is working on an event that will coincides with BU’s Giving Day to fundraise for student groups through SG.
“We still want to make sure that we’re giving student groups opportunities to make more funds, so this event is going to be a fundraising event for clubs that they can do through Student Government,” Lai said.
Lai said the decisions about how the SG budget is allocated are primarily made by the Senate.
“Especially with the way Student Government is run currently, clubs will come to Senate and ask for funds and Senate will give them the funds,” Lai said. “If you look at the numbers, Senate has definitely delegated more money than Cabinet and e-board.”
Lai said she would personally like to see some of SG’s remaining funds go toward standing committees and toward helping BU’s Center for Gender, Sexuality and Activism. She said at the latest Senate meeting that $2,000 was delegated to the CGSA for Sexual Assault Awareness Week, but that she would like to see even more collaboration with the center.
Andrew Chiao, a junior senator in the College of Arts and Sciences, said Cabinet can use funds as they see fit and that the Senate does not need to approve Cabinet’s use of the money based on SG’s constitution and Senate bylaws.
Chiao said he thinks there should be an amendment to the Constitution stating that Cabinet must present proposals to Senate if they require funding above a certain amount. He thinks this is not in the Constitution in order to streamline the process for events to be held.
“I thought that if you had over 1,000 or 2,000 dollars you had to come to Senate, but it’s not in the bylaws,” Chiao said. “I think that’s only because Cabinet does so many events … It has a lot of student advocacy initiatives, [so] if they came to us with every single proposal it would slow down their process.”
Nehemiah Dureus, a junior senator in the College of Engineering, said he thinks SG uses its funding to help the student body.
“[SG helps students] through funding initiatives that SG creates, ensuring Student Government has the resources it needs to operate, and sometimes giving funding to student groups when they request it,” Dureus said.
Norman Toro, a freshman senator in CAS, wrote in a Facebook message that the money allocated to SG is beneficial to the university’s community because it goes toward events that help bring the colleges together.
“I feel that we have used [the funds] correctly throughout the semester,” Toro said. “All the events or initiatives we promote have helped student groups fulfill their missions and helped our community come together.”
