GSB President T.J. Schneider will present his final State of the Student Body address Wednesday evening and announce a proposal to create a special fund that will assist students with special needs to participate in campus organizations.

Schneider will present his proposal at the regular meeting of the Government of the Student Body at 7 p.m. in the Campanile Room of the Memorial Union.

Schneider said the new fund will fall beneath the umbrella of GSB, but does not yet have a name.

“We’re still working on the exact naming, because it depends [on] if we just do student organizations or campus organizations,” he said.

Student organizations are only open to ISU students. Campus organizations may encompass students, faculty, staff and members of the Ames community.

Schneider said he will present further details of his proposal Wednesday night, after he has finalized the plan with Kedrin Moser, GSB director of disabilities and sophomore in psychology. “Hopefully, we’ll have all the details by then,” he said.

He said he believes GSB should do something so students with special needs don’t feel that they are not burdening organizations in which they participate.

“I heard there is a need, but I don’t know what the demand is,” Schneider said.

He said Moser alerted him there was a need to assist students with special needs to participate more actively in campus organizations.

The fund will start off with a base amount of $10,000, and $2,600 will be added to the fund. The money will be derived from a student fees account, Schneider said.

The fund will be administered by a joint effort of GSB, the Student Activities Center and Disability Resources.

In other business, GSB will vote on a funding bill to recommend account allocations for the next fiscal year.

The Senate Finance Committee will receive $1,514,598.75 for the 2003-2004 fiscal year.

David Boike, GSB finance director, said the Iowa Board of Regents policy changed the way students are charged for fees. Boike said part-time students are now charged half the amount of fees as full-time students, resulting in a loss of revenue.

Boike said the Graduate Student Senate, as well as GSB, will both receive less money in the next fiscal year.

“GSB is feeling the crunch, too,” he said.