SGA members say financial procedures ignored for Liz Wheeler event, feel misled by topic

By ELEANOR SHAW & MICHAEL RUSSO The Breeze

T he Student Government Association (SGA) addressed its role in granting $3,000 in contingency funds to JMU’s chapter of the Young Americans for Freedom (YAF) during and after its meeting Tuesday evening, calling YAF’s original request misleading. On April 17, YAF announced Liz Wheeler’s Wednesday evening lecture, “The Ideology of Transgenderism.”

After Tuesday’s Senate, sophomore Mahek Shroff, SGA’s finance liaison, said of all the groups to request contingency funds this year, YAF was the sole organization of 17 to not go through her. Shroff and junior Matt Haynicz, executive treasurer-elect, said senior Brandon Market, the previous executive treasurer, told them he’d handle YAF’s application himself because he and junior Parker Boggs, YAF chairman, founder and SGA senator, were “acquaintances.”

Concerning the conflict of interest Boggs’ position as an SGA senator could raise, Haynicz said while he trusts the finance committee’s discretion, YAF’s funding request is a special case.

YAF’s application was also the only contingency fund request to not be submitted online, Haynicz said; it was instead printed out and submitted to Market, marking “a visible violation of finance procedures.”

“What I can objectively say for certain is Mahek did not approve the application, therefore it did not follow financial procedure,” Haynicz said.

To avoid future instances of such violations, Haynicz said YAF’s ability to request funding may be suspended, the SGA’s constitution may be amended and/or the past treasurer may decide what to do next.

In a written statement to The Breeze, Haynicz said the committee that approved YAF’s initial request prior to its presentation had only one abstention — Shroff.

In a resolution passed during the Senate, SGA released a statement that said the body felt YAF’s presentation wasn’t truthful of what the event would entail. Several potential topics were stated for Liz Wheeler’s talk, none of which were ultimately chosen. SGA didn’t approve and was unaware of the final selected topic, according to its statement written by senior Ken Kensky, a graduating senator.

The statement “condemns discrimination and hatred in all forms towards the Transgender community and stands in solidarity with the LGBTQ+ community.” [sic] Additionally, it advocates for freedom of speech and a space for open discussion of ideas and encourages “those opposed to the event to exercise their first amendment rights.”

In debate, Shroff said the resolution is an important step for SGA to acknowledge its approval of YAF’s contingency funding and “ensure transparency and accountability within SGA itself” in addition to showing support of JMU’s LGBTQ+ community.

The resolution passed with the exception of Market, who was the sole attendee to vote “nay” for the resolution, disagreeing with the Senate’s sentiment about being misled. When approached by The Breeze after the meeting, Market declined to comment and wouldn’t provide his reasoning.

SGA can’t rescind the funds it granted YAF because the money was already designated toward a contract, according to the statement.

During debate, Reagan Polarek, the SGA Senate’s class of 2026 president, proposed amending the resolution with specific information regarding the topics YAF shared in the Jan. 31 meeting requesting the funds. However, Shroff said YAF’s presentation only shared the potential subjects verbally, and there was no written record of the topics to include in the resolution.

Junior Marcus Rand, SGA’s incoming legislative affairs chair, said the statement would help ease student concerns.

However, SGA’s subsequent Instagram post sharing the statement after the Senate adjourned has been met with negative comments, with one user identifying as a transgender student calling it “performative as hell.”

“You’re not doing enough. And this statement is a day before, when SGA knew about this a week ago,” user @daniel.green1, another commenter, said. “Too little too late. Thanks for being complicit.”

To this, Kensky said he wants the student body to know the resolution was written by him — a transgender person. He agrees with the student body that more needs to be done and the statement could’ve come sooner, but SGA’s leadership is in a transition process and the resolution needed to be drafted and approved following Senate procedures.

“Releasing a statement is simply the start of changes that need to be made,” Kensky said. “I like to think that the people who, including some of my friends, who will be on leadership in student government next year will actively be pushing to make those changes a reality … But I think that [students] should ask themselves, like, ‘What would you think if SGA has said nothing at all?’”

Additionally, as a transgender person and writer of the statement, Kensky said, “the sentiment is really there” and comes from within the LGBTQ+ community, even if the resolution had to pass SGA’s approval process.

Student organizations can request up to $3,000 in contingency funds per semester from SGA, which can be used for holding events, inviting speakers, attending conferences and more, according to its website. These funds come from student fees, and any student organization in good standing with the Office of Student Activities and Involvement for at least four months is eligible. The applicant organization “must also show that they have exhausted all forms of fundraising,” SGA’s website states.

YAF’s initial presentation to the SGA in the Jan. 31 Senate meeting said Wheeler’s lecture would be on “a particular topic of our chapter’s choice.”

Junior SGA President-elect Nate Hazen said he shares the sentiments addressed in the SGA’s resolution and confirmed the minutes from the Jan. 31 meeting indicate two of the three topics Boggs presented involve feminism and freedom of speech. Hazen said the other topic was still under investigation by the SGA and has yet to be confirmed.

Ashlee Thompson contributed to this report.

CONTACT Eleanor Shaw at breezenews@ gmail.com and Michael Russo at breezepress@gmail.com. For more coverage of JMU and Harrisonburg news, follow the news desk on Twitter @BreezeNewsJMU.