The Boston University Student Government approved two funding requests, endorsed a political survey initiative and voted to table another funding request at the group’s fourth meeting of the semester.
The first funding request came from the BU Rocket Propulsion Group, an undergraduate-run rocketry team aiming to be the first college team to launch a liquid rocket into space. BUPRG appealed to the Senate with Bill SR007, a petition for $1,400 to help fund the club’s hotel accommodations in California for the launch of its rocket on a site in the Mojave Desert.
Senior Kacper Bazan, president of BURPG, said during the meeting that the group chose the Mojave Desert for the launch because of its remote location and compliance with the Federal Aviation Administration’s requirements.
Bazan said BUPRG’s end goal is to launch their rockets every year, but they hope to start gaining momentum with this initial launch.
“If this is successful, we’re going to have the momentum in the future to build maybe smaller scale rockets, so we could launch more frequently,” Bazan said.
Discussion on the request was extended by five minutes as senators inquired about hotel accommodations, other avenues for funding and the necessity of including all 25 club members.
“Around 25 people did pour thousands of hours into this rocket, collectively amongst all of them,” Bazan said. “To say that only some four members, who maybe spent some percentage points more time on it, only get to go, I find it a little bit unfair.”
The bill passed with 39 affirmative votes.
The second funding request came from the Society for Hispanic Professional Engineering, a national organization focused on the professional development of Hispanic students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields.
Society President Adrian Reyes petitioned for the money to send club members to the annual SHPE convention in Anaheim, California.
“This is the biggest opportunity that SHPE offers as its National Career Fair,” Reyes said. “Two days of which are career fair, the other two are professional workshops and development hosted by companies, sponsors and other professionals.”
Reyes said that out of the 27 students who attended last year, five received job offers. He also said that future costs should decrease next year as the event moves closer.
“Next year, it’s being hosted in Philadelphia, so we imagine that all costs associated with a trip will be cheaper,” Reyes said.
During the discussion period, StuGov President Akwasi Antwi reminded StuGov of their mission to provide and advocate for marginalized students and the purpose of their budget.
“If we can’t fund something like this, what’s the point in being here?” Antwi said.
After a single amendment, the bill passed with 34 votes in the affirmative.
The Senate endorsed a survey by Boston Political Review to gather information about potential trends in voting among BU students.
The only request that was not passed was from Verge Dance Company, BU’s first Chinese dance performance group, seeking funding for a showcase in mid-February. Instead, the bill was tabled due to concerns about photography and performance space fees.
StuGov recommended that Verge come back with a more “fleshed-out” idea and a proposal that considers the needs of other student groups.
“We’re in the midpoint of the semester,” Jacob Aznavoorian, Terriers United party leader, said. “We don’t want to deplete our budget completely, because then that’s not fair to other student groups who may have urgent funding requests.”
Antwi said Verge has been able to run events in previous years, but this is the first time he has seen them request money from StuGov. Antwi attributed this to groups not receiving the funding they need from the Students Activities Organization and the Allocations Board.
“They’re very used to this funding, so they’re obviously going to look for other methods of funding,” Antwi said. “That kind of puts an exorbitant strain on us as an organization, because we’re also a student organization that benefits from the funding that’s given to us.”
