During its first regularly scheduled meeting of the semester Thursday, the Undergraduate Student Government proposed its budget for this school year. It totaled $32,999 dollars, the same amount as last year.

Most of the ten students — three of whom were USG senators — at the meeting took issue with the amount of money allotted for executive board members’ travel and other expenses. The proposal allows $3,000 for rental, lodging and training for board members, according to USG President Joshua Bowens.

During the public comments section of the meeting, Will Schefelbein, a senior from Peoria studying studying management, said USG should follow the university’s example, referring to the administration’s decision last year to cut the state-funded travel budget.

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“What makes us so entitled to the fact that we deserve the same amount of money we have for the past couple of years?” Schefelbein said.

Bethany Peppers, president of Black Affairs Council and a sophomore studying political science, said the executive board should remember cuts are being made university-wide and budgets across campus have been slashed.

Peppers added that the nearly nine percent drop in enrollment will affect the body’s budget further because it comes from student fees.

Schefelbein said it does not make sense to keep the budget the same as last year with the enrollment drop.

Johnathan Flowers, president of the Graduate and Professional Student Council, said the council’s budget does not cover traveling costs for any of its officers to travel to the same meetings the undergraduate executive board members attend.

The senate motioned to revisit the executive budget at next week’s meeting because of lack of attendance from senators.

Staff writer Amelia Blakely can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @AmeilaBlakely.

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