SAC Allocation Meeting

3/22/10

Call to order: Ethel

Members Present: Shaniqua, Emilio, Sofia, Dan, Andy, Ruiyong, Harrison, William,
Senyo

I. Budget Update:
a. Previous Allocation Budget: $19,282
b. Allocated at last meeting: $7,820
c. New Allocation Budget: $11,462
i. 6% of total allocation budget
ii. 10% of post-BAG allocation budget

II. Proposal: Parliamentary Debate

a. Event NCD Extention – Scott, Sheva presenting: We started the process in the
Spring of last year. The board from last year that were responsible for SAC
correspondence had decided that they didn’t want to be involved anymore but
didn’t notify the club or pass on the Bill’s correspondence. To that end, we
were withdrawn from the NCD process, and are asking for an extension.
b. Comments/Concerns –
i. Presentation
1. Will: How many members do you have? We have 5 board
members and 10-12 active board members.
2. Will: How do you distinguish yourselves from other debate
organizations? The parliamentary style is so different from the
other styles represented on campus, so we wouldn’t want to be
an organ of an institution that isn’t representative of our debate
style.
3. Harrison: How would you ensure that the same issues that
brought you here now won’t happen again? I don’t want to
simply compartmentalize the issues, but that is what happened.
The board that was responsible for the process last year were
unique in their treatment of the club and that shouldn’t happen
again.
ii. Discussion
1. Scott: I think that the issue is here is a broader one of whether
or not SAC should punish groups based on previous leadership.
Sometimes we take institutional memory of failed leadership in
the past in considering events of new boards and assume that
they won’t work well. I don’t think we should take old
mistakes from old people into consideration.
2. Harrison: In response to that, it is a concern that when asked
what steps they have taken to improve board communication,
 the entire answer was about that the old board was ineffective
but this one is. What’s to say there won’t be another
ineffective board in the future, and we haven’t seen
mechanisms in place to prevent that.
3. Senyo: I took his answer in a different light. I saw it as the
issue arising not from institutional malfunction but from a
handful of people who didn’t care. Now that they have a board
that actually works, the institutional concerns will be addressed
in their constitutional review.
iii. Motion by William to approve
iv. Second by Sofia
1. Vote: 10-0-1
2. Motion Passes

III. Proposal: MEChA 6865000 William

a. Event Dance Party for Chile – 3/27/10. Isabelle presenting: This is an event
in Hoya Court this weekend that has no costs other than security. The profits
`are going to the Red Cross for aide to Chile.
b. Comments/Concerns –
i. Discussion
1. Harrison: I don’t want to beat a dead horse, but there is still
the issue of whether SAC should allocate ahead of time for
security.
2. Erika: There is a form on the DPS site that groups can fill out
that will inform them whether or not they will need DPS.
3. Andy: With that in mind, should we anticipate DPS presence?
4. Erika: Whenever there is money exchanged, if there is
alcohol, and where there are off campus attendees, you can
pretty much assume that DPS will be there.
ii. Motion by Harrison to BUC
iii. Opposed by William
iv. Motion by Sofia to approve
v. Second by Andy
1. Income – $400
2. Expense – $400
3. Allocation – $0
4. Vote: 10-0-1
5. Motion Passes
c. Event Banner – The banner itself is free, but after fees it’s $32.
d. Comments/Concerns –
i. Presentation
1. Name: Question
ii. Discussion
1. Name: Question
iii. Motion by Scott to SUC
1. Income – $0
 2. Expense – $32
3. Allocation – $(32)
4. Vote: Unanimous
5. Motion Passes

IV. Proposal: IRC 6888000 Andy

a. Event VICS – 3/25/10. Amy, Mike presenting: Our driver situation has been
resolved as we have RM approved drivers. I’ll take the questions that you had
brought up last week.
b. Comments/Concerns –
i. Presentation
1. Harrison: Is there a selection for the VICS conference seeing
as it is the fifth? Yes, we give preferences to those members
who haven’t been on a conference yet as it is more relaxed and
low-key. We use this conference as an opportunity to expand
the conference experience to as many members as we can.
2. Senyo: Do you feel that this is a little late to spring this on your
members seeing as it is this weekend? To be honest, we
weren’t expecting that this would have been problematic seeing
as we have been on this conference for many years now, so we
have put together a team and made all of the necessary
reservations. Furthermore, we were given the impression,
perhaps wrongly, that if we complied with all of the aspects of
the sanctions, then we wouldn’t have issues getting a fifth
conference approved.
3. Harrison: I think that part of the issue is that the funding
guidelines and the institutional history of our relationship with
IRC tend to deviate, and yes, IRC has gone on more than what
the guidelines allow, but that was a discretionary action on the
part of SAC every year.
4. Senyo: I would like to reiterate that the fifth conference should
be seen as an optional conference, and not an expectation that
you should simply expect to receive without even coming in to
present.
5. Amy: I do apologize that I wasn’t here last week, but that
wasn’t because of any expectations or feelings of entitlement.
It was an assumption we erroneously made based on our
conversation last semester about the sanctions and having
completed all of them.
6. Senyo: Since you mentioned that this was the most cost-
effective conference, would you consider switching this to one
of the four priority conferences? We base our priority
conferences on the level of competitiveness and volume of
participation, and the problem with making VICS a priority is
that it is of a much lower volume of participation and lower
 competitive level.
ii. Discussion
1. Andy: To address their absence last week, it wasn’t as much
on them as it was on me. I made the call that it would be a
pretty routine presentation so I told them I could handle it.
2. Harrison: I think that it was helpful to hear them talk about
VICS being a training conference used to incorporate those
members that don’t regularly travel, and I think that’s a pretty
compelling argument for allowing a fifth conference.
3. Senyo: I don’t think that any traveling group should allow their
commissioner to present on their behalf. None of our other
groups ask for commissioner presentations even for the four
allotted conferences. Further, if this one is as great as they
claim, this conference should be higher on their priority list.
4. Dan: I think that this was a function of a lack of consistency of
our responses to them. I feel like we have communicated to
them that we would approve a fifth every year.
5. Senyo: We made it clear to them that the fifth was optional and
not an issue of precedent. It is supposed to be considered on a
year-to-year basis and not based on historical precedent.
6. Shaniqua: I think that this is a great conference that they
should go on, but I think it was brought to us extremely late,
and they didn’t give a legitimate reason for bringing this in
really late.
7. Ruiyong: To address that, the initial presentation was within
the two-week rule.
8. William: I think they actually take more new people to the
other conferences but those percentages are lower simply
because of the volume of those conferences versus the size of
VICS.
9. Scott: I think that this fits into a broader issue of
commissioners not necessarily knowing when it’s appropriate
to present for their groups. It would be helpful for there to be
some standard for when groups can rely on a commissioner
presentation.
10. Harrison: Because we’ve been so stringent on the letter of the
guidelines, we need to be careful of our definition of the two-
week rule. They did come in time to have two meetings before
the event: time enough to get tabled, come back, and still have
time to go on the event. Another issue here is that there isn’t a
codified rule for IRC that the fifth is optional. We say that it
was made clear to them. They say they perceived it as
precedent. It’s entirely hearsay, so we should work on
something that codifies the expectations for the groups.
iii. Motion by Ruiyong to approve
iv. Second by Sofia
 1. Income – $2,218
2. Expense – $4,436
3. Allocation – $(2,218)
4. Vote: 5-2-4
5. Motion Passes

V. Proposal: Club Filipino 6862000 Senyo

a. Event Bayanihan – 3/27/10. Hansky presenting: This Saturday we’re having
our cultural performance. We presented for this earlier for the major costs and
are now requesting some minor items like programs and tickets.
b. Comments/Concerns –
i. Discussion
1. Harrison: In the scheme of a 10,000 event, going over by
about $50 is not a huge issue.
2. Senyo: To me, it’s not an issue of the quantity of money spent,
but an issue of negligence. They weren’t using their own credit
card, so they shouldn’t spend just as they please.
3. Shaniqua: The size of this issue is not one that warrants a
debate of this size regarding the departure from line item
allocations.
4. Ethel: We are however an advisory board, so we can’t just use
a monetary lens. It’s not just the issue of how much they
overspent, but the policy in general.
5. Senyo: By saying this is too miniscule to debate, it gives
commissioners the permission to turn a blind eye to issues that
arise.
ii. Motion by Ruiyong to approve
iii. Second by Dan
1. Income – $6,500
2. Expense – $9,568
3. Allocation – $(3,068) additional $210
4. Vote: 10-0-1
5. Motion Passes

VI. Proposal: CSA 6839000 Andy

a. Event Contemporary Chinese Art Exhibit – 4/10/10. This is a new event that
we would like to host. A very generous alum has provided us with several
pieces of Chinese Art. We’d like to host a reception in the Conference Center
with light finger food.
b. Comments/Concerns –
i. Presentation
1. Andy: Just to be clear, you received a monetary donation for
the event as well? Yes, that is correct. All we’re asking for is
money for advertising.
2. Harrison: How did you choose the Conference Center? The
 Center has specialty in handling art events so they can make it
look really good.
3. Scott: You may want to consider having security present since
you will have valuable art on display.
4. Harrison: You should also check with the owner if his
insurance has special requirements for security presence.
5. Scott: There might be a small issue of fronting of outside
organizations coming in and using a club for facilities, so can
you address that? This is a Georgetown alum who was an
active member of CSA who would like to host a nice event to
expose the Georgetown community to this artwork.
6. Harrison: Another consideration would be to have the club
provide programs or offer informative materials to inform the
community as to what the viewers are seeing.
ii. Discussion
1. Sofia: At first I was concerned with fronting, but it seemed as
though they do have a genuine interest in it and a genuine role.
iii. Motion by Sofia to approve
iv. Second by Scott
1. Income – $2,500
2. Expense – $2,700
3. Allocation – $(200)
4. Vote: 10-0-2
5. Motion Passes

VII. Proposal: Amnesty International 6918000 Harrison

a. Event Concert – 4/9/10. Harrison presenting: This was the worksheet that I
had messed up last week. Due to my error, they have to switch the date, and
are unsure whether they can have it on Thursday or on Saturday
b. Comments/Concerns –
i. Discussion
1. Senyo: How many people do they expect? About 80-100
ii. Motion by Scott to approve
iii. Second by Senyo
1. Income – $0
2. Expense – $350
3. Allocation – $(350)
4. Vote: 10-0-1
5. Motion Passes

VIII. Proposal: GUCD 6880000 Sofia

a. Event Internship Fair (Wrong Worksheet) –
b. Comments/Concerns –
i. Motion by Harrison to take no action
ii. Second by Sofia
 1. Vote: 9-0-2
2. Motion Passes

IX. Proposal: GUCD 6880000 Sofia

a. Event Internship Fair – 4/9/10. Sofia presenting: this is an event they have
every semester that has representatives of organizations that have internship
programs.
b. Comments/Concerns –
i. Discussion
1. Erika: It has to be in any enclosed space due to the nature of
some of the organizations. People must choose to attend and
not stroll in because they’re walking through.
ii. Motion by William to approve
iii. Second by Shaniqua
1. Income – $0
2. Expense – $399
3. Allocation – $(399)
4. Vote: 10-0-1
5. Motion Passes

X. Proposal: SAC 6800000 Ethel

a. Event GU Day Co-Sponsorship – Harrison presenting: GU Day would like to
request SAC’s co-sponsorship and funding for ethnic foods. GU Day would
like retain overseeing the planning and coordination of the food applications
from student groups to maintain a centralized planning committee.
b. Comments/Concerns –
i. Discussion
1. Scott: One stipulation would be to advertise this as the SAC
afternoon of fun or something. Another concern is the fact that
this is about 25% of our remaining allocation budget. Finally,
how does food contribute to the camaraderie aspect of the
event?
2. Harrison: Historically, SAC has provided 1-2 thousand
dollars, but usually for a ride. I feel that student group
participation in the form of food is much more relevant to the
unity aspect of the event.
3. Shaniqua: How will we get clubs to contribute food to the
event?
4. Harrison: This can be seen as a mini-SAC fair where groups
can get free publicity and exposure on campus.
5. Ruiyong: How much is the figure for the overall expense of
GU Day? It’s usually about $20,000 and that comes from the
Provost office.
6. William: I was curious why we should provide a lump
allocation when we were so troubled over line items when
 looking at Club Filipino? We can’t provide line items as that
depends on which groups apply. Further, the GU Day board is
quite capable of equitably distributing money to groups.
7. Scott: The only concern I have is the size of the allocation,
especially relative to the historical allocation and our
constraints.
8. Sofia: I just feel like we have seen most of the big ticket items
that request large allocations.
9. Andy: I don’t think we should penalize GU Day for coming
now and not earlier. If we saw this when we had $100,000 left,
it wouldn’t be an issue, so I don’t think it should be now.
10. Senyo: Let’s not forget that this is one of the largest events we
can fund in terms of reaching the maximum number of
students. This is something that reaches every community on
campus, and it is our mission to affect those groups.
Regardless of who you are, everyone is a Hoya and will be
participating.
11. Harrison: We should also keep in mind that ultimately, this
money would go to SAC groups since most cultural groups are
under SAC. Further, we do have a reserve that we draw into
for the flexibility to fund new events and for a budgetary
cushion.
ii. Motion by Andy to approve
iii. Second by Sofia
1. Income – $0
2. Expense – $2,500
3. Allocation – $(2,500)
4. Vote: 8-1-2
5. Motion Passes

XI. Proposal: SJP 6919000 Harrison

a. Event DAM Concert – 4/28/10. Harrison presenting: this is cultural and
political outreach, and this is a group that is based in Israel and is the first
Palestinian Hip-Hop group. Harrison they only have $500 official dollars of
income, but expect $1,500 more from other commitments that are still
pending.
b. Comments/Concerns –
i. Discussion
1. Dan: Have they ever hosted an event like this in the past? They
co-sponsored the White Flag Concert last semester, and they
were very successful in negotiating with DAM.
2. Shaniqua: Do you have information about fliers and posters?
They wanted to do the legal sized color fliers for both on
campus and off.
ii. Motion by Senyo to approve with anticipated donations.
iii. Second by Ruiyong
 1. Income – $4,500
2. Expense – $5,246
3. Allocation – $(746)
4. Vote: 8-1-2
5. Motion Passes

XII. Proposal: VSA 6861000 Sofia

a. Event Pho Fest – Sofia presenting: these are food fundraisers to donate to the
Vietnamese Heritage Foundation. They will be preparing the food on their
own in their apartments.
b. Comments/Concerns –
i. Motion by Shaniqua to approve
ii. Second by Scott
1. Income – $300
2. Expense – $300
3. Allocation – $0
4. Vote: 10-0-1
5. Motion Passes
c. Event Spring Roll Fundraiser –
d. Comments/Concerns –
i. Discussion
1. Harrison: For consistency’s sake, we have let Klub Polski and
GUGS to sell food in Red Square.
ii. Motion by Scott to approve
iii. Second by Senyo
1. Income – $150
2. Expense – $150
3. Allocation – $0
4. Vote: 10-0-1
5. Motion Passes

XIII. OTHER
a. Bulk Budget White Paper Review
i. Discussion
1. This is a very rough draft of the policy. Please review this
document and send me feedback so that we can have a more
finalized version before Easter.
2. Discussion of the policy transition
ii. Motion by Ethel that commissioners will bring two groups for the
accelerated transition for next meeting and committing to budget
summit.
1. Vote: 6-3-2
2. Motion Passes
iii. Motion by Sofia to revisit vote
iv. Second by Andy
1. Vote: 8-2-1
 2. Motion Passes
v. Further Discussion
1. Sofia: I do want to see this get done, but I do have to take into
account my academic schedule.
2. Andy: It’s not that we’re being selfish. I want to do the best
job we could, and rushing this through would not lead to the
prime outcome.
3. Shaniqua: It’s hard to tell exactly how much work we’ll have
to put in, which makes this decision hard to make.
4. Scott: Initially, I was opposed to this rushed idea. However, I
think this initial stage is crucial to the success of the entire
shift. Further, the actual work isn’t that much greater than a
normal BAG request in terms of what we’re actually asking.
5. Harrison: Another way to look at this is that we’re going to
have to address the issues either now and only tackle 24 groups
or tackle all 90 group’s worth of issues in the Fall.
6. Ruiyong: I feel that 24 is a substantial number of groups, could
we cut it down to 1 per commissioner to make it 12 groups.
vi. Motion by Harrison that each commissioner select one group for
new process, make appropriate revisions to the budget summit, and
make edits to the white paper.
vii. Second by Andy
1. Vote: 5-4-2
2. Motion Passes
b. 4th Floor Applications are due this Friday
c. New Commissioner Applications are due next Tuesday, Mar. 30th.
d. Surveys: The SOB Survey results will be available when Bill returns.
e. Student Activities Fee Update: There will not be a vote this weekend on the
SAC funding board.
f. There will be a commissioner re-application sent out this week.

XIV. Erika’s Notes

a. DPS has event inquiry forms and satisfaction forms that groups can use.
Please send out the links to your groups.
b. The Higher Education Consortium of DC Schools have decided that Apr. 12th
will be Haiti Day where different events will be going on.