Academic and pre-professional groups may be eligible to apply for funding from the Government of the Student Body next semester.

GSB held an open forum Oct. 26 and the Finance Committee has been discussing the option since then.

The committee released a bill to the Senate suggesting changes to Chapter 11 of the bylaws.

This change would not allow academic and pre-professional groups to apply for regular allocations, but would instead allow the groups to apply for funding out of a new events account, said Anthony Maly, member of the Finance Committee.

As the bill reads, now the groups would be able to apply for money if they are hosting an event that is entertaining or social in nature, open to all students and free of charge to all students.

The event would have to cover all three categories, said Tom Danielson, GSB finance director and senior in civil engineering.

The new account would be funded from the interest earned from the Campus Organization Investment Account and half of misspent or unencumbered monies. Currently, the account is only budgeted to hold $50,000. The rest will be put into the capital projects account, according to the bill.

The money is being used as a student appreciation account, which funds events such as ice skating at Winterfest and free nights at the Underground.

The committee had a six-hour debate about how best to fund these groups last Monday night.

Maly, a Liberal Arts and Sciences senator and junior in political science, said GSB felt it was not the college’s responsibility to fund operating expenses of its groups.

He voiced his worries about offering too much money to the groups.

“I am concerned that if the GSB started funding academic and pre-professional groups’ every expense, it would be an easy expense for the colleges to cut,” Maly said.

At special allocations this year, GSB had more than $66,000 requested and only $20,000 to allocate. The Engineering Student Council had $150,000 in requests, with $28,000 to allocate.

No one has the amount of money they need, but this account would be something the pre-professional and academic groups could tap into after they have received funding from their constituency, said Kayla Pinegar, GSB treasurer and junior in accounting.

GSB will have to cut approximately 30 percent of group’s requests, whereas the Engineering Student Council is cutting approximately 80 percent, so this could be a way to alleviate the cuts of the pre-professional and academic groups, Pinegar said.

The idea to fund Inter-Residence Hall Association events was brought up at last night’s Finance Committee meeting but was decided against.

Zachary Krueger, Senate clerk and senior in liberal studies, said the last time that idea was brought up it was declined because IRHA and GSB both receive student-fee money. If both groups funded the same event, students living in the residence halls would be charged twice for one event.