Presidential perspectives: The Joint Funding Process wraps up

I hope you had a fun and relaxing Spring Carnival.
From student government?s perspective, Carnival is more than a long weekend of festivities: it is the largest
expense of the year. In fact, roughly 20 percent, or about $32 per person, of your annual activities fee was allocated to events during Carnival. Such
events included the Buggy Sweepstakes, the Shins concert, comedian Ralphie May, and the concluding fireworks display.
The Joint Funding Committee (JFC) is responsible for recommending how activities fee money should be disbursed. This nine-member committee, composed of eight Student Senators and one Graduate Student Assembly representative, has finished evaluating student organizations? proposed budgets for the next fiscal year. Their final recommendations have been published online at budgets.stusen.org.
The JFC?s recommendations came after an extensive process, which included meeting with the leaders of more than 100 student organizations and reviewing the line items of every budget. After making their initial recommendations, the JFC heard two rounds of appeals before making their final decision. I attended most of the JFC meetings this year and found the process to be fair and judicious.
I would like to thank JFC chair Nicolette Louissaint and Student Body Vice-President for Finance Steven Kling for their leadership of the committee. I would also like to thank each member of the committee for their hard work: Joe Arasin, Abigail Barnes, Laura Drogowski, Miriam Rosenberg-Lee, Ed Ryan, Tom Sabram, Joe Wong, and Josh Yearsley.
Tom and Nicolette will soon be taking the helm of student government, and if their work on the JFC is any indication, they will do a fantastic job.
The JFC?s recommendations will be voted upon at a joint session of the Undergraduate Student Senate and the Graduate Student Assembly on April 20 at 5 pm in McConomy Auditorium. All students are welcome to attend this meeting and express their opinions about the budgeting process.