A disagreement between SGA and the Black Caucus finally came to a close at the end of Monday’s Senate meeting.
Sesha Moon, president of the Black Caucus said she is very passionate about her organization and is committed to making it successful. In December, the Black Caucus requested $8,807 from the SGA Appropriations Committee for the group’s annual Black and Gold Ball. They received only $4,790.
For the past two weeks, Moon has been appealing the Senate’s decision.
What happened during the process of the appeal and the amount requested are two issues that the SGA has been investigating.
Any organization had the opportunity to file an appeal during the first two weeks of the spring semester.
One of the major issues in this appeal was whether the Black Caucus lodged its claims within the 14-day appeal time period.
“They didn’t even consider my appeal before because Appropriations thought I didn’t appeal within the 14-day period,” Moon said. “I actually appealed within 4 days. That’s my problem with the SGA. If you fund student organizations and don’t double check on information, you could be ruining their events by denying them money. The SGA should be sure that it double checks things because it could be wrong.”
After careful review for the past two weeks, the Appropriations Committee found that Moon was within the 14-day period. When she submitted the appeal Jan.18 – a month and 10 days after the fiscal office notified her of the amount – there was confusion about whether she filed within the time frame
Furthermore, Moon said she was angry because the SGA never explained why it denied Black Caucus their funds while other non-funded organizations were e-mailed explanations of the SGA’s decision-making process.
Sen. Arman Amiri, chair of Appropriations Committee, defended SGA’s policy.
“It is not in the Appropriations Guidelines to e-mail every organization and explain why they were denied.” Amiri said “But they do have to post a response outside the SGA office to each organization.”
After the Black Caucus did not receive adequate funding for a pre-planned speaker, the group requested to use that money for the ball. The group’s claim was denied.
Moon said she wants to have the group’s event at the Omni Hotel. The SGA said that the ball should be held at the University Student Commons for traditional and expense reasons. The Black and Gold Ball has been held at the Commons for over 10 years. Amiri said the event should be held on campus.
“We think it would be better served on campus so students can have more access to events,” Amiri said. “Some students thought it should be held on-campus and others thought it would be better off-campus. The final decision was that it should be held on-campus as it always had been before.”
Moon distributed 500 surveys to students across the VCU Monroe Park Campus last semester and said the majority of students wanted the Black and Gold Ball at a new location.
“Students don’t want to get dressed up and go to the commons,” she said. “I think it’s nice to do something different.”
The decision to vote on the Black Caucus appeal was postponed to Monday’s Senate meeting because the Senate didn’t feel that it had enough correct information to make a decision.
Matthew Haynes, chairman of the Senate, said Monday that voting for the Black Caucus’ funds goes against the constitution, and it is an illegal process.
“Even if she is right and she wasn’t given a proper appeal – for us to vote would be violating the constitution.” Haynes said “We are stepping over our power and she should go to the judicial board. She needs the money quickly – and I feel that – but we should not step over our bounds. I think it’s illegal, and at this point I don’t know if anyone knows what’s right or wrong. This could be an illegal process.”
SGA President Zmarak Khan wants to change the appropriation guidelines and told senators Monday that every organization needs to submit an annual budget.
“The reason we’re having some trouble with issues like the Black Caucus is because of our guidelines,” he said. “My proposal is that we need to have every organization have an annual budget. There’s nothing wrong with line-item changes or appeals, but we need to require every organization to submit an annual budget.”
Sen. Bruce Vann said the Black Caucus should get its money and told the Senate that the organization has been through a lot.
“This organization as a whole has jumped through a lot of hoops,” Vann said “We should just give them the money.”
Sen. Emad Maghsoudi also said that it was a lot of money for one night and the funds should be used for other purposes.
“I believe that it’s better to the student body as a whole to fund well-known speakers than well-known balls and parties.”
Moon said she was angry about the appeal process and the amount of funding given.
“I feel like I’m the Joan of Ark for student organizations,” she said. “I’ve had so many student organizations come up to me and ask me for advice on similar situations. Someone needs to know that these are the issues that SGA has created and this will need to be changed.”
The Senate voted 17-11 for the Black Caucus, the Black and Gold Ball will go forward as scheduled Friday, April 22.