New emergency allocation guidelines were passed at a Feb. 11 student government meeting, despite concerns from about 50 students in attendance.

The new guidelines state that no club will be granted an emergency allocation without having reached some minimum requirements—clubs must be in good standing with the campus activities staff, the emergency allocation must be submitted within the semester that the money is needed and, with the exception of budget cuts, club members must be unaware of the costs being emergency allocated for when budgeting.

Many of the student engineers in attendance said they wish that more money from the student activity fee could be allocated for emergencies.

Treasurer Olivia Albert said the student government’s constitutional emergency allocation fund for the 2019-20 school year is set at $8,000.

“As it currently stands in our constitution, the emergency allocation fund will have $8,000 for the entire year,” Albert said. 

“Amending this part of the constitution was proposed, but it did not proceed any further.” 

Secretary Rebecca Stefanyak said student government members decided to change the amount to benefit clubs more.

“The reason we changed the amount to $8,000 was so we could give clubs more money (in the budgeting process) so their members don’t have to emergency allocate,” Stefanyak said.

Guidelines for clubs to receive an emergency allocation were amended Feb. 11 after senators had voted to grant excutive board members special powers to pass the changes without having to table them for a week. 

One of the emergency allocation requirements is that club members must provide proof of fundraising efforts in order to be eligible for emergency allocations.

Junior Jedidiah Elam attended the meeting and spoke out against some of the changes.

 “My club is small; we only have a few members,” Elam said. “How can we fundraise? What if a club is not able or large enough to fundraise?”

 Albert and Parliamentarian Kasandra Matthews both said it does not matter how much money a certain club’s members can fundraise, as long as they can show some effort to fundraise.

“We just want to see that you’re at least trying to make that money,” Albert said. “If you are really struggling to fundraise, you can always ask other organizations to help you,” Matthews said.

Program Board President Hanna Dixon said Program Board members have been approving fewer grants than last year, which can range between $500 to $1,500, after it was suggested that club members who cannot fundraise should apply for a grant.

“The grants are for campus as a whole, not for clubs or emergency allocations,” Dixon said. “We still need proof that you are fundraising. We want that money to go to good use.”

Junior Gabriel Berghe, a ChemE club member, also expressed his concerns over the new guidelines, saying clubs who participate in competitions over the summer usually do not know whether they are qualified for the competition until right before summer starts.

Pro Tempore Olivia Lindstrom said club members should budget for all events.

Albert said Allocation committee members don’t judge importance of budgeted items, and that she treats every line item as if it were crucial to the club. 

She said she only checks to see if all line items have proper proof.