Finance committee decides club funds

Members of the UNC Gospel Choir and the Black Student Movement walked out of Student Congress’ Finance Committee meeting on Tuesday with lifted spirits after receiving approval for a combined $8,416 in funds.

The $5,076 awarded to the Gospel Choir will fund the recording of a new CD. The $3,340 for the BSM will bring former pro-football player Don McPherson to speak at the University about men’s role in stopping violence against women.

“We are very satisfied,” said BSM Treasurer Conitras Houston. “Last night was a very good experience for us. Congress was very fair.”

The Finance Committee approved a total of $16,826.01 of requests Tuesday.

These include funds for the executive branch of student government, Life Takes Guts, the Order of the Old Well, Student Advocates for Internationalization, the Board of Elections and Carolina Society of Future Leaders.

The full legislative body will vote on the requests during its meeting next week.

After requesting $3,000, the executive branch of student government was approved $2,000 to purchase computers for the Student Organization Resource Center.

“I think that the $2,000 exec was funded was reasonable,” said Student Body Treasurer Natalie Russell. “It’s a significant portion. Cuts were made because exec does have some capacity to fund-raise. It was a fair judgment made by them.”

Although groups were pleased with their allotments, the Finance Committee was not able to satisfy all of their requests.

Student groups annually are allotted a set amount of funding, but when a group plans an event outside of its budget, it often calls on Congress for financial support.

“One thing I’ve learned from doing this for two and a half years is that each group coming to us really believes in what they are doing and wants to put on their event,” said Daneen Furr, chairwoman of the Finance Committee.

“We are not judging them as a group,” she said. “We judge them based on how they can serve the student body.”

Congress must adhere to a strict code when making financial decisions. Funds must not go toward individual gain, food for consumption or lodging that exceeds $90 a night.

Requests are ranked based on their vitality, specialization and openness to the student body.

“We have priorities,” Furr said. “We rank things. It is a combination between exact rules and evaluation.”

The Order of the Old Well did not receive the funding it asked for because requests included money to pay for certificates and frames for new inductees.

Furr said the request was not accepted because funds would be used to reward individual students.

The Finance Committee did grant the organization $100.

“A lot of what we do with finance is more cut and dry than most people realize,” she said.

“If the (Student) Code says we can’t fund something, we can’t.”

Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.