[what exactly does finance board do?]

I decided to take notes at a Finance Board meeting like I did at the Senate meeting. Same disclaimer applies. These notes are from my perspective and may be somewhat biased. They do not reflect everything that was said and are not representative of the views of the SGA or the SGA Finance Board. I am running for Vice President for Student Organizations for next year and will have a vote on this board if elected.

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Harsh called the meeting to order at 5:33 PM.

Everyone was present except for Stefan (who arrived later).

The Finance Board approved the 3/24/09 minutes for posting. Harsh asked about the 3/31/09 minutes, and Emily Han asked that someone proofread them for grammar before posting.

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Musicians for World Peace came to discuss Rock for Relief, a concert promoting social justice and featuring many UMBC bands. They are expecting about 300 students and will be advertising through commonvision with a banner, fliers, and spotlights. It will be in the UC Ballroom from 6-10pm on April 27th.

The Finance Board members present unanimously approved $700 for the event. They told the organization's representative that he would receive an email when the funds were available.

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James brought the constitutional amendment to eliminate the Student Organizations Advocate position (passed last night at the Senate meeting) before the Finance Board for discussion. It passed with the necessary 2/3 vote. The student body will vote on this amendment during the election.

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Alpha Nu Omega came to discuss their Man Up / Sister-to-Sister event, which will be set as a battle of the sexes. They expect about 30-50 people. Yasmin asked what the benefit of this discussion will be to campus and where they got their quotes from. ANQ said they were trying to provide an open place to discuss how people view the opposite sex and explained about the quotes.

The funding for this event passed.

They also talked about their Sex and the City event. It will be a panel of people in various stages of relationships talking about their relationships. At the end of the event, people will have an opportunity to take a purity vow to remain abstinent until marriage. Sorrento's will be catering the event. It will be in Lecture Hall 6 at 7:30 pm on 4/23/09.

After some discussion about the whether the purity wristbands were central enough to the event to justify paying $170 for them, the finance board decided to decrease the number of wristbands from 200 to 100 to better reflect the expected attendance of the event. This decreased the cost to $100. The funding for this event passed.

Then ANQ talked about ANQ week as a whole, which is when these events will take place. They asked for money for an advertising package for the week. ($175)

The funding for ANQ week's marketing package passed.

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The National Panhellenic Council went next to talk about the NPHC Cookout. They wanted to have a small cookout open to the campus community before any of the concerts or events to raise awareness to the campus community about who they as an organization are. It would be in Walker Avenue at 2 PM on Saturday, April 19th and would be free and open to all UMBC students. They expect roughly 50 people to come out to the event. They will be advertising using small paper fliers and facebook. Vegetarian options will be available.

David expressed concerns about the event being on the same day as Quadmania, and Harsh expressed concerns about whether the event was relevent to their mission statement. Yasmin, James, and I all stated that we thought the event was relevant to the group's mission statement and that the organization was trying to reach out to the campus community. I expressed that I did not think having it on the same day as Quadmania was a negative thing, because Quadmania is not free for students and not everyone can afford to attend, so this would give them an alternative. The Finance Board funded the full amount of the event.

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PakSA came to discuss PakSA Night, a play in the UC Ballroom at 7 pm May 3rd. They got the quotes for food from an outside restaurant and expect to sell about 400 tickets. They also discussed what decorations they want to secure for the event. They will be charging extra for VIP seating in the front but seating in the back will be free for UMBC students. There are 60 VIP seats that will cost $10 apiece.

There was a lot of discussion about the VIP seating. Harsh was especially concerned that student fees would be paying for this event, but that students wouldn't have the opportunity to have the best seats in the house. I suggested cutting out around $600 of funding since the organization would make around $600 from VIP ticket sales. The Finance Board eventually (with PakSA's encouragement) decided to cut out the cost of the tables (and decorations) where the VIP guests would be sitting. The new total came to $3932. The funding passed.

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Filmmakers Anonymous came to discuss Lightstruck, the UMBC film festival. Student volunteers and others will act as judges. The event will be held at the Creative Alliance. They are expecting 150-200 people. Some questions were asked about venue cost, venue location, percentage expected to UMBC students, how and where advertising will happen, what decorations they would be needing, and what role food played in the event.

Concerns were raised about the event being off campus and making sure that UMBC students got priority in attending the event. It was suggested that tickets be given to students in advance and sold at the door to everyone else wishing to attend. The finance board decided to cut the money that would go to non-umbc students, such as money for off-campus advertising. The new total was $1600. The vote was 3-1 for funding. Yasmin, Silva, and Stefan voted to fund the event, James opposed, and Harsh abstained.

They then considered whether to fund the Lightstruck Judge Day, which was for judges of the event. They voted unanimously not to fund the event because it was only for 13 people and was not open to everyone.

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The Finance Board considered the Retriever ROTC Club's request for Call of Duty Night. The Finance Board voted unanimously against the event because the club was charging people to enter the tournament and was also using the event as a fundraiser.

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SEA's Ecofest was considered next. A brief discussion about whether it was okay to fund supplies for decorating t-shirts since we didn't fund professionally-made t-shirts ensued. The Finance Board voted to fund the full amount.

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Anime Society's Spring Marathon (24 hours of anime) was considered. This is an event that they do every semester. The Finance Board voted to fund the full amount of the event.

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S.I.S.T.E.R.S' Ladies Night event was considered. They are a restricted funded organization (becuse they are not open to men) who wanted to have an event with manicures pedicures, eyebrow waxing, and massages that was open to everyone. Concerns about this event not having a significant purpose related to their mission statement and the event not showing a significant effort to reach out to those not in their organization (for example, men). The Finance Board voted unanimously not to fund the event.

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The Honors College Council's Mirror Ball was considered next. There were concerns raised because the Honors College Council is not an actual student organization, and it is open to all students. (James pointed out that they were attempting to become a student organization.) Yasmin pointed out that, at this point, the money was coming out of our General Ledger since we had already allocated all of our student organization money for the year and we should scrutinize the event carefully. She also expressed concerns about the purpose of the event being purely social. Catherine suggested that since the Honors College Council was not a student organization, they should use their own money for the event. James said he thought that this event was open to everyone and beneficial to the campus community. The Finance Board's final vote was 2-2. James and Silva voted for, Stefan and Yasmin opposed, and Harsh abstained. The motion failed because 50% is not a majority and a majority is needed to pass the motion.

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At this point I had to leave the meeting. I do know that an MCS COM event and another SEA event was considered after I left, but I'm not sure what the decision was. Hopefully this post will cause less controversy than the last one. Either way check out my platform and my facebook group and VOTE PAULA MCCUSKER FOR VPSO!