By Grace Rodriguez
A total of $60,000 in funds were reallocated to the Associated Student Union Huskie Food Pantry, the ASU Book Rental and the South Gate giveaway during a Budget Academic Committee meeting on May 14.
Chair Ho Yan Yip led the BAC meeting. Of the $187,084.84 budget, only $26,000 were available at the start of the meeting.
The three items were approved unanimously.
Additional funds in the amount of $20,000 were approved for the ASU Huskie Food Pantry.
Funds in the amount of $40,000 were approved to go into the purchase of updated textbooks in preparation for return to classes. Faculty Representative Frank Lozano, demanded the text be amended to include calculators as well — this was also approved.
Last to be approved were funds in the amount of $4,000 for the South Gate giveaway. The giveaway aims to provide students who live in the South Gate area, and are in need, with $20 gift cards. More information on this will be available this upcoming month on the South Gate campus Instagram @elacsouthgate.
One item failed to pass – the Psychology Department’s request for funds for their drive-thru graduation.
Adviser and Dean Sonia Lopez was the first of two no-votes on the Psychology Department’s Drive-Thru graduation budget request.
“You already know my vote,” said Lopez, referring to the item.
Her reasoning was based on the fact that ASU already spent $40,000 on graduation. Furthermore, she claimed the request was not from a club, but a department.
“The department filed the item in conjunction with a club,” said Faculty Representative Lozano.
But the dean stood by her decision claiming this could open the door for other departments to demand funds from ASU. After a bit more deliberation, the item received two yes-votes and two no-votes, so the motion did not pass.
The breakdown for the reallocated funds is as follows, $20,000 was taken from the club seed funds, $8,500 was taken from college tours, $6,000 was taken from competitions, $4,000 was taken from student conferences, $1,000 was taken from ASU equipment maintenance and $500 was taken from mileage expenses. This accounted for the rest of the $60,000 of $86,000 that was needed to cover all three items.
The new ASU President Rosa Mendoza as well as runner-up Paul Medina attended the meeting. Others who attended include Carlos Guerrero, Frank Lozano, Sonia Lopez, Jocelyn Yu, Areli Vargas and Alondra Pacheco.
In adjournment, Carlos Guerrero brought up a foreseeable proposal — new computers would have to be bought very soon. Rosa Mendoza said she would work on writing up the proposal to address at the next BAC meeting.
The next ASU meeting took place Friday and the next BAC meeting will take place on June 9.
Sonia Lopez congratulated Chair Ho Yan Yip for the ASU scholarship she received.