I would like to take this opportunity to clarify a couple of items from the article in the Daily Egyptian Tuesday, Amendment to help funding process. My intended purpose in writing this amendment to the Undergraduate Student Government Constitution is to make Yearly Fee Allocations a priority over General (Special Activity) Funding and to make the funding process as fair as possible for all Registered Student Organizations on this campus. I also want to make RSOs aware of the fact that they should fund raise and collect membership dues and donations from people and businesses to supplement the money they receive from the Student Organization Activity Fund (SOAF).

The SOAF account comes from student fees money paid by every student at this University. Some items that RSOs request funding for, food being the major one, should not be paid for by fee dollars paid by all students, as these items solely benefit that RSO. I was taken out of context as saying We can’t be funding banquets for groups. What I actually said was that there are specific items that are typically requested for a banquet that the Finance Committee does not fund for, such as, the food and beverages or any prizes and awards given out. Facility rental and guest speaker fees are some examples of banquet-related items that the Finance Committee can fund at least partially.

Lastly, I would like to clarify that, while a rule does exist stating that the misuse of SOAF funds is subject to investigation by the Internal Affairs Committee of USG with the possible consequences being ineligibility for future funding and possible revocation of RSO status by Student Development, that rule is rarely enforced, for whatever reason. The Finance Committee has little control over this at this time.

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Thank you for allowing me to clear up these issues, which have the potential to cause panic and confusion among RSOs on this campus.

USG Finance Committee chairwoman