The Associated Students Inc. Board of Control was forced to pull funds from the spring semester in order to fulfill an abundance of student requests Tuesday.
According to Jesse Luna, the BOC chairman, there are $1,521 left in the unallocated fund which is mostly used to fund student organization’s events, $3,373 left in the student travel fund and $13,366 left in the student research fund.
The student travel fund has been used extensively this semester. According to Luna, if the BOC were to fund every request made at this meeting, they would spend $5,584, which exceeds their current semester limit of $3,373. The BOC discussed its options and decided to dip into next semester’s student travel fund.
Christopher O’Dell, a graduate student in the Physical Therapy Association, along with other doctorate therapy students, is presenting a research paper about joint stress and runners at the American Physical Therapy Association conference.
“We want to contribute to the wealth and knowledge of our community — especially the academic community,” O’Dell said. The BOC took their time to discuss how to fund these students.
Together, they are requesting $1,640.
“In the event of multiple authors [on a research paper], funding should not exceed $1,000,” said Richard Haller, executive director of ASI, as he read from ASI policy.
The BOC pulled from the spring semester travel fund in order to grant them $1,000.
The Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers requested $2,000 to fund their travel expenses to the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers national conference held in Cleveland, Ohio.
The cost is $250 per person and the group is sending over 25 members.
“The group travel grant can only cover up to 10 students, $75 each, so there is a $750 cap,” said Luna.
Similarly, the Anthropology Club is looking to fund their travel to the American
Anthropological Association Conference in San Jose, California.
“There are a lot of opportunities that come with attending a conference like this,” said Tabitha McClusky, an anthropology student at LBSU.
The club requested $350 in order to cover entrance fees to this conference, which the board granted.
Chloe Carr, a communication studies major, requested $287 to attend the National Communications Association Conference.
“My research study will be discussing biopolitical martyring,” Carr said. “This essay extends to explore the relationship between biopolitics and martyring, arguing that youth bodies function as biopolitical martyrs in the context of asylum law … I plan on sharing research knowledge with department members and communicating it to students as well.”
The board granted Carr $239 to attend the conference after ASI President Genesis Jara explained the board is limited on its funds.
“We are at the very last of our funds, so we are just granting 83 percent to those who request from student travel fund,” Jara said.