The student government fined a prominent student group after an official policy violation at a follow-up hearing Thursday night.
Student Services Finance Committee fined Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan a total of $3,000 to be taken out of any part of its budget, a punishment stemming from MEChA turning in its General Student Services Fund mid-year report two days late.
It was the group’s fourth SSFC policy violation this year. At the previous SSFC meeting, another punishment discussed included freezing MEChA’s budget for two weeks, but both SSFC Representatives and MEChA member Rebecca Pons thought freezing the budget as a punishment went too far. “
“The folks that sit on this council must come from good financial backgrounds to think it’s okay to withhold funding like this, especially since it goes on payroll,” Pons said. “If we don’t have a payroll, then we can’t provide the students with a service, which is what you set up funds for.”
Pons also questioned whether it was possible to see a budget freezing punishment in the real world. She added doing so would be much more significant than student government believes it to be, as MEChA has an event in two weeks already contracted and paid for and its national meeting in a month.
After hearing from Pons during the open forum, Rep. Sarah Neibart motioned to cut $3,000 from their budget, which could be taken out of any part and would not affect the group’s payroll status.
“The whole reason we have GSSF is to provide direct services to campus. If we freeze their budget, they won’t be able to pay salaries,” Neibart said. “It would not be realistic to do it in the next four weeks either due to the number of events they have in the next few weeks as well.”
Rep. Tyler Junger said he agreed, but said SSFC cannot be reactive and needs to have a set process for situations consistent with MEChA’s in the future.
SSFC also passed a motion to have Chair Matt Manes send a letter to all GSSF groups further explaining rules violations and protocol for how the committee will deal with such violations.
Other business at the meeting included a mid-year status report from the Rape Crisis Center Director Kelly Anderson. Anderson reviewed the RCC’s progress to date and said she hopes to continue to have a positive relationship with SSFC in the future.
