The UNC Student Congress Finance Committee met Tuesday to divvy the Fall Subsequent budget of $34,586.70. After three and a half hours of debate, the Congress paid $28,413.79 among 10 student organizations.
There was little dispute between finance committee members as to how money should be allocated. Much of the debate throughout the night was over whether the Student Congress could or was allowed to fund certain programs.
“Our money has one very specific end purpose,” said finance committee member Craig Amasya. “And that is to have the maximum possible impact on campus.”
Project HEAL, a Campus Y committee that supports health and development in Ghana, was denied $5,000 in funding. The finance committee said they did not think the money would result in a great enough impact on UNC’s campus.
Other groups were denied money due to a lack of plausible reasoning for why they should receive the money. UNICEF at Carolina received less than a third of its requested funding after being denied money for office supplies.
“We usually like to fund, when it comes to office supplies, those who are fairly new and don’t have other finance sources,” finance committee member Aidan Hennessy said.
Other organizations were allocated the full amount of money requested, including the Board of Elections, Carolina Rejuvenating Our Community Through Service and Carolina Scientific.
The finance committee gave the Black Student Movement almost its exact requested amount after the organization lowered its request from about $18,000 to fewer than $4,000.
After hours of debate, Priyesh Krishnan, chairperson of the Finance Committee, said he was thankful to all the student organizations who practiced patience at the meeting.
