ASCSU passed a supplemental funding bill to move $20,000 from the senate discretionary fund to various departments within the organization that have exhausted or nearly exhausted their allocated funding for the year.

The senate discretionary account is comprised of roll over from previous administrations and currently totals $124,984.

“The students that are here now paid into student fees, and they should benefit from those fees this year,” said ASCSU President Jason Sydoriak, author of the supplemental funding bill. “We are so conservative, I don’t believe we will exhaust all our funds. We have an opportunity to benefit the students this year. I will recommend to the next administration to not increase the student fee or to consider a fee decrease.”

The $20,000 will be allocated to the following areas:

$10,000 Department of Marketing

Marketing received $15,000 in the initial budget and spent about $14,100 during the summer and fall.

$3,000 ASCSU Office Supplies

“The fund is nearly exhausted, and we want to ensure that we don’t run out (of funding) during the spring semester,” Sydoriak said.

The money will be dispersed throughout the nearly exhausted account, according to the wording of the bill.

$1,500 Department of Health, Mental Health

Funding is to be used for initiatives regarding mental health, according to the wording of the bill.

“I’m really happy to see $1,500 allocated towards mental health,” said Spencer Nolan, author of a resolution to encourage professors to add a mental health resources statement to their syllabi.

$1,000 ASCSU Payroll, Elections Manager

During interview discussions, the agreed stipend for the ASCSU elections manager was $3,000, but only $2,000 had been set aside for the position in the budget, Sydoriak said. 

$1,000 Department of Environmental Affairs

“They have earth week coming up, and we don’t believe they have enough money to accommodate the many organizations that have jumped on board,” Sydoriak said.

$1,000 ASCSU Supreme Court

The funds will be used for the Supreme Court’s initiatives to create awareness about individuals’ legal rights on and off campus, according to the wording of the bill.

$1,000 ASCSU Senate

Discretionary funding for the ASCSU senate account.

$1,000 ASCSU Office of the President

Discretionary funding for the Office of the President account.

$500 Department of Governmental Affairs

The funding is to put resources into tabling and getting students registered to vote, according to the wording of the bill.

“We want to have an educational campaign on how to get people registered to vote, so that students can vote however they see fit on U+2 and in the 2016 presidential election,” Sydoriak said.

Collegian ASCSU Beat Reporter Erin Douglas can be reached at news@collegian.com or on Twitter @erinmdouglas23.