RSO grants and budgets were settled by the ASFLC at its meeting Wednesday.
RSO IIs and IIIs finances were discussed by the senate with the move to increasing their budgets from $100,000 to $125,000 by increasing the student fees by $1.10, Connor Cafferty, student body president, said. This student fee increase is speculative until the Institutional Fee Review Board can review and approve it.
This increase would also cover the contract with Durango Transit, Cafferty said.
“The $25,000 increase was made because the ASFLC was not able to give all the RSO’s the money from the previous $100,000 increase,” Harrison Thrasher, senator for the ASFLC, said.
The RSO budget cuts that were discussed at the Sept. 28 meeting were finalized through Resolution 16-038 by the senate.
“The budget needed to be amended for the fiscal year 2016-17 due to enrollment being approximately 6 percent lower than estimated,” Thrasher said.
What dominated most of the meeting was a discussion on a grant proposed by Cultural Kitchen, an RSO that aims to bring students together through diverse foods, which would cover ingredients for the Real Histories of America potluck being held by the RSO on Monday.
There was a confusion on approving a budget for Cultural Kitchen because the club requested more than it could account for on the initial request, Cafferty said.
The Financial Allocation Board does not approve requests from RSOs for grants that fail to account for the use of the funds, Cafferty said.
The request was made for $1,000 and the ASFLC was unsure how these funds would be used by the RSO, Cafferty said.
Through much deliberation, the senate voted to allow Cultural Kitchen its grant for ingredients.
Through Resolution 16-034, the RSO was granted an amount of $622 for their cook-off.
The biggest concern for Cafferty was that a precedent would be set in which justification of budgets for RSOs did not matter, he wrote in response to an email requesting clarification.
The Senate also granted the physics and engineering club an amount of $275 through Resolution 16-035.
This grant goes towards the travel fees for a sophomore at FLC attending a river watch program put on by Colorado State University.
The program provides training on how to test water samples in local areas, according to resolution 16-035.
A hopeful RSO was introduced to The Senate and granted approval to become a legitimate club.
By way of resolution 16-036 The ASFLC Senate approved the Elysian Club as an official club for students to join.
“The club will focus on circus activities such as juggling, hanging on silk ropes, and hula hooping,” Meryl Ramsey, senator and speaker of the senate, said.
A few RSOs, Cultural Kitchen, Feminist Voice, and Buffalo Council, were also renewed with Resolution 16-037.
RSO Levels:
|
Level
|
Funding
|
Total Number 2016-2017
|
Examples
|
|
RSO I
|
Initial allocation of $50 or $100
|
55
|
Bee Club, Cultural Kitchen, Pueblo Alliance, FLC Taekwon-Do Club.
|
|
RSO II
|
Receives annual budget funded by student activity fees, staff members are considered employees of Fort Lewis College
|
7
|
SUP, WellPAC, The Independent, The ASFLC, Club del Centro, Wanbli Ota, Village Aid Project
|
|
RSO III
|
Receives annual budget funded by student activity fees, staff members are considered employees of the club itself
|
2
|
Environmental Center and KDUR
|