Board tie broken

Student Government Board voted 5-4 Thursday to grant $926.03 to a pre-medical organization… Student Government Board voted 5-4 Thursday to grant $926.03 to a pre-medical organization that plans to travel to West Virginia during spring break.

Because the board denied funding earlier this year to other organizations for similar trips, some members felt that they should have similarly denied funding for the Pre-Medical Organization for Minority Students.

Board member Aimee Kleer said that, although she would love to send POMS to West Virginia, she felt the board set a precedent by denying Hillel Jewish University Center and Cornerstone Christian Fellowship when the two groups requested funding for separate trips to help Hurricane Katrina victims.

“I feel it would be wrong,” Kleer said.

POMS plans on providing medical assistance and encouraging high school students to go to college.

Hillel President Elan Strait said that Hillel still plans on going to New Orleans this spring to help with the rebuilding.

“I think as a new board, it is a struggle to set and then keep new policies,” Strait said.

During the meeting, board members reviewed some of the reasons they denied Hillel and Cornerstone.

Board members restated that they felt Hillel had poor documentation, while allocations chair Michelle Turbanic said that her committee denied Hillel because its budget was nearing $50,000, an amount that she deemed “excessive spending.”

Turbanic also said that the allocations committee denied Cornerstone because they had already approved funding for Cornerstone for a similar spring break trip to Arizona. The Arizona trip was approved in March under last year’s board.

When the board members tied 4-4 on the POMS vote, President Joe Pasqualichio voted in favor of sending the group.

“One of the reasons why the board denied it was because they felt they set a precedent when they denied Hillel,” Pasqualichio said after the meeting. “I didn’t feel I needed to follow that precedent because I didn’t vote.”

Pasqualichio only votes to break ties – or, in the absence of a board member, he can vote to make a tie.

The president added that, while he felt the board should not necessarily fund spring breaks – because of opportunities provided by Student Volunteer Outreach – the allocations manual does not say that the board cannot give spring break funding.

Board member Will Powers said that, although he would vote in favor of sending POMS to West Virginia, he urged the board to follow the precedent.

“I’m in favor of funding spring break trips,” said Powers, who had previously voted to send Cornerstone to Mississippi. “But I remember everyone quoted precedent. So you set a precedent, follow it.”

Shortly after, board member Kleer reminded the group that, regardless of individual opinions, the board makes its decisions as a group.

“In the end, it’s a board decision,” Kleer said.