By Brendan O’Reilly

With the budgets review process made open to the student body Tuesday night, some clubs took advantage of the opportunity to argue for increases to their allocations from the appropriations committee.

The Student Government Association appropriations committee reviews budget requests during “budget weekend” and then submits its recommendations to the SGA senate.

The senate then considers amendments, votes on what changes to make, and passes the budget.

On Tuesday, the senate considered amendments until approximately 12:45 a.m., when quorum was lost. (The senate cannot vote on anything without enough members present to constitute a quorum.) As the hours waned, more senators left the meeting and the senate teetered on the brink of not having enough members to pass the budget.

Senators were begged to stay so the meeting could continue and clubs who had waited in the gallery for hours could speak their piece then, rather than coming back in a week. On Tuesday, May 8, the senate must pass its previous weeks minutes, including the budget it had approved. It will be the final opportunity for amendments to be made for the SGA clubs budget for the next academic year.

The club that consumed the most time was the Inter-Fraternity/Sorority Council. Nicolette Smithson, the graduating IFSC president, secured an additional $15,000 for the council, on top of an original allocation of $10,000. Last year the IFSC was budgeted $60,000.

Shakirah Demesier, the president of In Touch Arts, attained $1,000 for her club on top of $3,776.80.

A dozen members of the Progressive Students Union showed up to the senate meeting in support of their club. PSU’s budget was raised from $500 to $2,500. Some of the same faces returned to the floor to argue for the budget of the Student Organization for Animal Rights, which was originally budgeted $500. The senate considered raising SOAR’s budget as much as $2,000, but ultimately decided to grant the club $750. Both clubs were told by Kayleigh Tompkins, the SGA comptroller, that they were not allocated as much as last year because they have not used all of their 2006-07 budgets. Club representatives argued that the money that remained in their budgets was not being wasted, but was set aside for Day of Peace, a series of events scheduled for May 9.

Pulse, the club that produces the semesterly magazine of the same name, was allocated $702.15. Last year the magazine was given $8,000. The appropriations committee written explanation for the decrease was, “Due to previous lack of spending history, the committee felt that they should not allocate any more money to Pulse.” The editors-in-chief of Pulse, Margaret Hawryluk and Amanda DeCamp, explained that when the appropriations committee looked at their account, Pulse had not yet paid for its spring issue. The senate approved granting Pulse an additional $4,000, with an encumbrance that its entire account would be returned to the SGA if they do not find a business manager by Oct. 1.

Hofstra Concerts had its budget raised $10,000 to $97,000, up from $80,000 last year.

The College Democrats also had an encumbrance placed on their budget, but David Gibb, the club secretary, successfully argued that the encumbrance be removed. Originally, their budget stipulated that if they did not bring Bill Bradley, the former senator from New Jersey, to speak on campus by Dec. 15 $5,000 of their budget would be revoked. Gibb argued that Bradley would cost much more than $5,000, and the club was, in essence, being given $1,065. Tompkins responded that if the plan to bring Bradley to campus was unsuccessful, the club could attend an appropriations committee meeting next academic year to ask for permission to use the money for other purposes.

Science-fiction, Comic, Anime, Fantasy Fans Unite!, or SCAFFU!, was the only club to experience a decrease in its budget. The graduating president of SCAFFU! and SGA rules committee chairwoman, Lisa Giunta, agreed that $500 be taken from her club’s $4,545 budget and given to the Hofstra University Gamers. With the senate’s approval, the gamers’ budget was increased to $700.

Matthew Bisanz, an SGA justice, argued for increases to the budgets of the Tax Society and Hofstra University’s Institute of Management Accountants. Motions were not made on either clubs’ budgets.

Kathleen Hunker, the SGA fundraising committee chairwoman, requested the senate grant the Hofstra Organization of Latin Americans $2,000 on top of $4,380. The additional money was allocated, giving H.O.L.A. 53 percent of its previous budget. A member of H.O.L.A. waited until the end of the meeting to ask for more money, but was not heard by the senate for fear of losing quorum during the discussion.

The Anthropology Club, which received $960, compared to $2,700 the previous year, also was not heard. Club members were not present when the third page of the budget proposal was considered, and the club was first on the page. A club representative said he was late because he was unaware the meeting was happening, but arrived at 8:30 p.m. and waited in the gallery until the meeting ended.

Courtney Baumer, a representative for Women of Action, questioned why the club had only received $500, the amount “start-up” clubs generally receive. Last year the club was granted $2,000. Baumer convinced the senate to allocate more money to WOA, raising its budget to $1,000.

The Gay/Straight Alliance had not received a budget, though Sarah Kerlin, the GSA president, said a budget request had been submitted. After presenting her case to the senate, the club was granted budget money.

With the exception of SCAFFU!, no club saw its budget decreased for the sake of another club’s budget. Money came from the SGA general fund and the contingency fund.