Student Assembly Upholds SAAC Funding Decisions For Four Groups

Last night’s Student Assembly meeting in the Straight addressed decisions made by the Student Assembly Appropriations Committee on whether the Student Assembly Finance Commission erred in rejecting the appeals of four undergraduate organizations: Asian and Asian-American Forum, Pre-Professional Association Toward Careers in Health, Big Red Bears and American Institute of Chemical Engineers.
Organizations may apply to the SAFC — responsible for funding over 350 registered undergraduate organizations — and have the right to appeal the SAFC’s allocative decisions if they have new information or feel as if they have been discriminated. If funding is still denied after the SAFC appeal, organizations may appeal again to the SAAC, in which case the S.A. decides whether to uphold the SAAC’s decision.
In the cases of PATCH, Big Red Bears and American Institute of Chemical Engineers, the SAAC had determined that the SAFC did err in its decision to withhold funding. However, in the case of Asian and Asian-American Forum, the SAAC had concluded that the SAFC did not make an error. After hearing each case separately, the members of the S.A. voted to uphold all four SAAC decisions.
—Byungkwan Park