The Associated Students California Lutheran University Government recently passed a new measure restricting the initial budget that some campus clubs are able to receive.
Incorporated under Section 10.0 of the ASCLUG Constitution, the new bylaw places a $200.00 cap on a new clubs initial budget allocation. According to the legislation, a “new” club is defined as a club that did not have an official club status during the course of the previous semester.
The new legislation was passed on April 13 and had support from both student government bodies. In order for a bylaw to be implemented or changed, it must be voted on and approved by a majority in both the senate and the programs board.
The legislation passed in both student government bodies and was unanimously passed in the Senate.
Sponsoring the new bylaw was senior ASCLUG Senator Natasha Boychenko, while sophomore Senator Daniel Lacey seconded the bylaw.
“We’re not placing a cap on budgets,” Boychenko said. “Just placing a cap on the first initial time they come and ask for money.”
Boychenko said, the legislation only places a $200.00 cap on the clubs first request. If a club were to have met all the necessary requirements and had used their previously allocated funds, then they are able to request additional funds from ASCLUG at future allocations.
In passing this legislation ASCLUG continues to work towards advocating on behalf of the general student population at Cal Lutheran, aiming to keep in mind only what is best for the majority of our students.
In writing the legislation, Boychenko was able to pull from her personal experience with campus clubs and organizations, knowing that getting a new club off the ground is hard work.
“I personally am president or co president of multiple clubs on campus, so I’m an expert on how the clubs work,” Boychenko said. “It’s hard to start up a new club with everything it brings, and its difficult to get everything the first time around.”
The new bylaw aims to help new clubs by ensuring that both ASCLUG and club organizers act in a responsible manner. The legislation itself states, “This will introduce a standard of fairness for all new clubs and a guideline for Senate to critically decide budgets.”
“As the Senate we have to be responsible with the students money because this tuition is all of ours, going to all of our clubs and organizations,” Boychenko said.
In aiming to be responsible for the majority of students, it is important for student government to support and advocate on behalf of clubs and organizations that will help a variety of students equally.
“These clubs are just starting out and they’ve never been a club before, so we want to see how they will do,” Boychenko said. “We don’t want to give all of our budget the very first time they [new clubs] come and ask with big dreams.”
With such a variety of student needs and interests, it has become increasingly important for ASCLUG to be fiscally responsible in their allocations since they must try and provide for as many students as they can in a variety of clubs and organizations on campus.
This year, clubs and organizations in total had a budget of $178,687.50. As of March 2 2015, the leftover budget totaled $1,767.28.
Joe Dalecio
Staff Writer
Published April 29th, 2015