 "Photo: Kevin Trujillo ~ Daily Egyptian")
Undergraduate Student Government almost could not distribute money to some Registered Student Organizations Thursday.
The senators met after an e-mail was sent on short notice Wednesday. They needed to make up last Wednesday’s meeting as it was canceled because of the MAP grant rally.
Because the meeting was planned last minute, not enough senators attended to make up the two-thirds majority USG needed to approve funding for student organizations.
In an attempt to gain five more senators, the members called current and former senators and asked other students if they would like to temporarily sit in for missing members.
Three current senators arrived and a student covering the meeting for a class agreed to fill a missing seat.
Marcus King, a former senator, also attended the meeting and filled in the last seat, which fulfilled the minimum amount of votes they needed to allocate money to the organizations.
“I like that I could come back,” King said. “There’s nothing that I wouldn’t do for these guys.”
USG President Priciliano Fabian said he was aware there wouldn’t be a full senate because the meeting was called at a short notice, but was glad there was enough people to vote.
“We just needed to be here,” Fabian said. “We just had to get these bills passed.”
All Campus Praise, the Automotive Technology Organization and the American Institute of Architecture were given almost $1,300 collectively for their upcoming events.
The USG now has about $3,090 left to distribute to organizations for the rest of the fall semester.
Miranda Brunner, a junior from Oreana studying architecture and member of the American Institute of Architecture, said she was worried at first about the senators not being able to vote to give her organization money.
The institute has 42 of its 96 members signed up to go to a weekend conference that consists of lectures and workshops to enhance students’ architectural skills, Brunner said.
The group needed almost $360 to help with hotel costs.
“We were either going to have to do a fundraiser, or it would have to come out of our own pocket,” she said. “That would have diminished our group.”
Ashley Epps, vice president, said she was also relieved the seats were filled so votes could be made for money to be distributed.
“We wanted to make sure everyone got their funding,” Epps said. “That’s the most important thing.”
Erin Holcomb can be reached at 536-3311 ext. 255.
