Student groups proposed more than $22,000 at Tuesday’s senate meeting, $3,500 of which was passed immediately.
The biggest ticket proposals were $10,000 for the Biola Film Festival, followed by $6,000 to invite an atheist and an expert on female genital mutilation to speak. The other substantial proposals ranged from $1,500 to $2,140 for a Robbie Seay Band concert, a lights and sound system for the Anberlin concert and club funding. The two largest proposals, as well as the Robbie Seay Band proposal, are still pending.
“What do you want, a car?” Hope North senator Peter Heald jokingly asked Hart senator Stephanie Wilkerson when she stood to make a $450 proposal, the smallest of the day.
The film festival’s producer, Ellie Pappuleas, explained the reasoning behind the $10,000 proposal, which is twice as much as AS granted the festival last year and nearly six times as much as 2007 and 2008.
This year, the festival staff wants to display the film at the Downey City Theater, which Pappuleas said offers the equipment that students’ work requires. Pappuleas said the festival needs at least $7,000 from AS for the event to happen at all.
“I’m not going to put on something that’s going to embarrass our department and our school,” she said. “We hope to bring the film festival to all-new heights.”
Alicia Miller, director of Coalition for Social Action, outlined the life of $6,000 speaker Ayan Hirsi Ali, who she hopes to invite for CSA Awareness Week. Ali was born to a Muslim family in Somalia, escaped female genital mutilation in her homeland, sat on Parliament in the Netherlands and currently works for a think tank in Washington, D.C.
“I know that it’s a lot of money, but I think it’s really worth it,” Miller said.
If the proposal passes, CSA will have to raise funds from other sources, like Multi-Cultural Relations. Ali’s negotiable speaking fee, not to mention other expenses, is $10,000. Senate members expressed concerns over whether or not the content of Ali’s lecture could be monitored well.
As to the concert equipment proposal, which passed for the full amount, Emerson Senator Stuart Weir pointed out that AS has already spent too much money bringing Anberlin here — approximately $8,000 — not to purchase the $2,000 system.
While AS has about $41,000 in contingency (the money used to fund proposals) for the remainder of the academic year, AS President Mark Heath reminded senate members to reserve some funds for next year.
“It would be prudent of us to finish this semester with 10 grand,” he said.
The senate will vote on the pending proposals in the coming weeks.
