Recently, an email sent to student organization presidents claimed the following:
In order to be eligible for 2024 Budget Appropriations, every group will be required to track attendance at a minimum of 5 events (chapter, general assembly, service events, etc.) during the 2023-2024 academic year to be eligible to receive funding from the Senate.
Email sent to Campus Organization Presidents
Additionally, a similar claim was made during budget appropriations earlier this year, under the heading “Senate Bylaws”:
These claims are VERY MISLEADING.
This provision is not in Senate’s regular bylaws or the Finance bylaws. If you would like to read them, the regular bylaws are here and the finance bylaws are here. In the event these documents are edited, updated, or restricted, Northern Review-hosted copies of the bylaws as of October 13, 2023 are here and here.
Student Senate’s budget appropriations are made at the discretion of the Treasurer and the Finance Committee, and are subject to approval by the elected members. By the time the 2024-2025 academic year budget appropriations are dispersed, a new Student Body President and Treasurer will be in power, and they may or may not agree with this policy. A new contingent of college representatives will have been elected, and depending on when budget appropriations are finalized, new housing representatives may or may not have been elected.
While it is technically possible that the 2024-2025 Student Senate budget appropriations only give money to student organizations which have submitted attendance records for five Northern Network–approved events, this is NOT a provision of Student Senate’s bylaws, and leadership at the time may not endorse the policy.