The Oracle
Funding for NPHC plots put on hold
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U N I V E R S I T Y O F S O U T H F LO R I DA
SG Supreme Court to review Senate’s decision to fund NPHC construction. n
By Miki Shine E D I T O R
I N
C H I E F
The construction of the National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC) representational plots that were approved for funding by Student Government (SG), has been put on hold. While it was originally planned to break ground during winter break, it’s currently being delayed until the SG Supreme Court reviews the use of Activity and Services (A&S) fees to fund the project. NPHC is responsible for bringing in $19,000 for the project and the university administration has agreed to match funding up to $265,000. The SG Senate voted 38-10 on Oct. 24 to fulfill the $113,500 budget request with Student Body President Moneer Kheireddine supporting the movement. Logan Holland, who ran for vice president against Kheireddine, filed for the SG court to review the use of A&S fees for this saying that it violates seven rules for funding. These include three that reference A&S funded items being available to all students, one that restricts allocation to organizations that have mandatory dues and
two that discuss differential or discriminatory practices based on race or color. NPHC is a council comprised of primarily African-American fraternities and sororities known as The Divine Nine. According to the website, the organizations are “all-inclusive and excepting (accepting) of all men and women.” The funding requested would go toward a plaza with a plot for each organization and would include information about the organization. Neither Holland nor Kheireddine could be reached for comment. In his filing with the court, Holland wrote that funding the collection of plots is a violation because it is providing funds “exclusively for the benefit (of) a group which membership is restricted in practice to one subset of students and is not inclusive to all students. Access to this council is not open to any student who has not been initiated into one of its member organizations.” Holland also wrote that the funding violates SG rules “by providing funds for the benefit of an entity that charges
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