The Student Services Finance Committee approved the eligibility of Atheists, Humanists and Agnostics club Thursday evening.
With a vote of 9-to-0, with two abstentions, Atheists, Humanists and Agnostics, a student organization which facilitates discussions of faith and religion and works to educate students about issues important to the secular community on campus, was granted eligibility to present their GSSF budget for 2017-18 in the coming months.
SSFC also held an eligibility hearing for the Muslim Student Association to receive university funds.
In her presentation, Najeeha Khan, Muslim Student Association president, said the student organization was applying for GSSF funding in order to expand on their current funding. They want to provide a space for students practicing or interested in Islam as well as to educate the wider campus population about Islam.
Given the current political and social climate, Khan emphasized the importance of providing a space to students of the Islamic faith where they can feel safe and comfortable on campus.
“So I think for a lot of our members … MSA is a space where they can build a community and family,” Khan said. “It’s hard to help people do that when we don’t really have a lot of resources to put on good events and activities for people to come together.”
Khan also noted that while they have access and occasionally use some of the space in the Multicultural Student Center, the space focuses on ethnic diversity, while MSA is predominantly a religious organization.
SSFC will hand down an eligibility decision to MSA next Monday.
City’s homeless, atheists could be added to protected class list
After the eligibility hearing, the Finance Committee covered some remaining meeting issues. After three wage violations, the student organization Sex Out Loud is being asked to return $1,399 after two of its student employees attempted to access wages while its budget was frozen over the summer. The budget was frozen because the organization failed to submit a signed statement of agreements.
The incident constituted two violations, and a third violation for overdrawing wages recently triggered a violation of an ASM bylaw, leading to the organization having to pay back the overdue wages.
