Council Clippings: GSS passes new activity fee allocation policy

The Graduate Student Senate (GSS) met on Tuesday in the Flag Building. One bill was passed.

The only bill brought before the Senate was the Joint Student Activity Fee Allocation Policy. The policy is a 17-page document that modifies the former Joint Finance Committee (JFC) policy in several ways.

The policy adds a timeline with more set dates for budgets and submissions. The capital expenditure becomes more like a budget, which, according to Claudia Jones, chair of the JFC, helps in the planning of the capital outlay. This feature will not be available this year since it is several weeks into the semester, but will be available next year and for all subsequent years.

According to Jones, the new policy is a stronger document because it is put into the bylaws of both houses and increases the weight of JFC recommendations. According to the proposed policy, for a bill to be passed in a form against JFC policy, it would require a two-thirds vote in both houses.

The most important aspect of the proposed policy, according to Jones, is the fact that the policy clarifies several things that were unclear before and lead to confusion and inconsistency.

"Consistency is what we are looking for [with the proposed policy]," said Mitch Keller, graduate student body president.

The proposed policy also had a built-in appeals process.

Three amendments had been written and submitted prior to the meeting.

The first amendment stated that in a budget submitted by an organization, anything that can be had at a lower cost or free through existing campus facilities is a prohibited allocation (VI, 9). The second amendment stated the same thing, only it applied to bills submitted by organizations (VII, 7). The third amendment stated the same thing, except for the fact that it applied solely to capital expenditures (VIII, 10). The submitted amendments were passed by the Senate.

Randy Weinstein, graduate senator from Biomedical Engineering, proposed an amendment that stated, "Primarily academic organizations directly associated with an academic program or school are exempt from requiring a membership fee." The amendment failed.

Another amendment submitted regarded the change in tier status of an organization.

The amendment had several forms before the final form that was proposed by Jess Chandler, graduate senator from ME, stating, "Following any change in tier status by the JFC, the vice president of finance shall submit any such change to the [Undergraduate House of Representatives (UHR)] and the GSS for approval by a majority vote by both UHR and GSS." The amendment was passed.

The overall bill passed the senate.