The Government of the Student Body discussed the last of the Regular Allocations for Fiscal Year 2010 at its meeting Wednesday night.

At last week’s meeting, the senate discussed and passed the Regular Allocations recommendations for the FY2010 after pulling 15 student organizations for debate.

The senate voted to send Freshmen Council, Women’s Hockey, Synchronized Skating, Brazilian-Portuguese Association, Government of the Student Body, Atheist and Agnostic Society, Trend Magazine and the Malaysian Student Association back to the finance committee with instructions to fund each organization at the senate’s request.

The finance committee accepted the instructions from the senate for all of the organizations except the Atheist and Agnostic Society, Trend Magazine and the Malaysian Student Association. The finance committee defended its decisions at Wednesday night’s meeting, but that didn’t change the senate’s vote.

After much debate, the senate voted to allocate $9,000 to Trend, the same decision it reached March 25.

The finance committee recommended that Trend be funded $7,000 for printing, the same as they were last year, instead of the $9,000 they requested.

Vice Speaker of the Senate Paul Keppy, senior in political science, said he thought it was unfair to the members of Trend that GSB discuss decreasing the publication’s funding without informing them of it so they can be present for the debate. He added that he didn’t think anything had changed since the senate voted in favor of funding Trend at $9,000 last week.

Finance director Tom Danielson, senior in civil engineering, said the senate should ask themselves what is the most appropriate use of student fee money.

“Do we go by what’s fair or do we make exceptions for exceptional groups?” Danielson asked.

Campustown Senator Lauren Suerth, senior in community and regional planning, said she felt slighted by the finance committee.

“Just because they don’t like how the vote came out at senate, they are sending it back to us ,and I feel disrespected by that,” she said.

After a brief debate, the senate voted to fund the Malaysian Student Association’s requests fully, as they instructed the finance committee last Wednesday. Essentially, the senate voted to make no changes to its decision last week, despite requests from the finance committee.

Turk said the senate still needed clarification for some of the Atheist and Agnostic Society’s requests, so the senate voted to send the bill back to the finance committee. Turk said they should receive answers this week and the senate will vote on the bill next Wednesday. The senate also passed the senate bill Capital Equipment for Sports Clubs with amendments to the original bill, allocating $14,694.83 to the Sports Club Council.

The senate voted to cut $1,976 for training boards for the ISU Taekwondo Club and Judo Club. The boards were cut from the bill because in order for an item to be considered capital, it typically needs to last at least three years, and since the purpose of the boards is to eventually be broken, they do not meet that requirement.

The ISU Motocross Club requested $787.50 for an E-Z Up tent. The club’s representative said the tent is more like a canopy that the club would use to promote itself. He said the tent would have a 5-year warranty, so it qualifies for capital funding.

Ultimately, the senate voted to cut the tent from the bill because they didn’t want to fund an item that would be used soley for advertising. 

The ISU Paintball Club requested $1,500 for a bunker package, but has since changed the request to $4,500. The senate passed the amendment to add the $3,000 to the bill.

The money will be allocated to the organizations on July 1, for expenses to occur in the FY2010.

The ISU Robotics Club received $5,963.35 to fund a recently formed Battlebots team that will participate in a robot competition hosted by ESPN.

The Robotics Club didn’t receive word of the competition until after the Regular Allocations process was underway.

The club’s representative, Derek Joseph, sophomore in mechanical engineering, said he believes the project will be a chance for many Iowa State students to get involved. He said students can help to design the Battlebot or compete.

Engineering senator Dan Finnegan, senior in aerospace engineering, said the competition promotes learning outside of the classroom, which is part of the ISU mission.

Also, after waiving the first read, the senate unanimously passed the bill Removing the Election Commissioner Salary.