dailygamecock.com MONDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 2018
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA
VOL. 111, NO. 16 l SINCE 1908
SG Fall Awards expects to exceed
initial budget MEGHAN CRUM @megcrum24
STUDENT GOVERNMENT SHOWS DISCREPANCIES *see full budget at dailygamecock.com
MEGHAN CRUM @megcrum24
S
tudent Government manages more than $220,000 of st udent money from the Student Activity Fee for allocation to other organizations and its own operation. However, the organization’s records show that Student Government occasionally applies the allocation rules more generously to itself than other organizations. Student Government leadership has rectified that discrepancy in some areas, but not in all. For instance, this year’s Student Government operations budget included funding for monthly meeting food, T-shirts, office supplies, a trophy and other awards, office photos, frames for those photos, polo shirts and name plates — all things that Student Government codes state cannot be funded by Student Activity Fee money. Some Student Government leaders explained the discrepancy, at least for meeting food, while others said the funding rules do not apply to
Student Government the same way they do to other student organizations. Monthly Meeting Food The Student Government operations budget approved in the spring 2018 semester included $600 for monthly meeting food, an approval some said is against the organization’s own codes. This is the first year Student Government has hosted monthly meetings for the full Student Government body, and Student Body President Taylor Wright said leaders thought it would be a good idea to have food available. Section 3-6-70 of the Student Government Codes states that funds will not be allocated to student organizations to cover food for regularly scheduled meetings. However, the section of the budget itemizing funds for food for the Student Government monthly meetings passed the Senate Finance Committee’s review and was a part of the Senate’s approval. Despite the approval, Wright acknowledged the breach of the organization’s codes and said the money designated for the food has been transferred to a budget line item called the New Initiative Fund. The New Initiative Fund is a
SEE BUDGET PAGE 2
T h e Un i v e r s it y of S o u t h Carolina’s Student Government will hold a formal event called the Student Government Fall Awards on Nov. 29 at City Art Gallery at 8 p.m. and plans to spend $3,515 on the event — more than $1,000 above its original budget. Although Student Government says the event is free and open to all students — as is required of other student organizations when they request funds from Student Government for social events — the organization did not advertise the event other than inviting st udent leaders f rom cer tain organizations, failed to send out the RSVP Google Form to the student body, asked attendees to pay a $5 donation for food in advance and booked a venue that can hold a maximum of 300 people. Student Body Vice President Mills Hayes, who led the planning of the event, said the donation was not necessary to attend. Originally called the Student Government Ball and then the Student Leader Ball, the Student Government Fall Awards has changed this year. The event was rebranded this year to include student leaders on campus and, ac c ord i n g t o St ude nt B o d y President Taylor Wright, to be open and free to all students, unlike past years. “W hen we got into of f ice, we didn’t t hink [t he St udent Government Ball] really was appropriate or really represented what we wanted to get out of the event,” Wright said. “So, initially branded as the Student Leader Ball, but I think we kept reflecting and it still didn’t quite completely say what the event actually was, so now we’re looking more at kind of a Fall Awards.” Wr i g ht e m p h a s i z e d t he importance of taking the event to an off-campus venue. SEE AWARDS PAGE 3