The Government of the Student Body increased the GSB allocation package for Veishea 2001 by almost $5,000 at its last senate meeting.

Senators voted Wednesday night to allocate money from the GSB Finance Committee and the Senate Discretionary Fund to help the Veishea Committee pay for the 2001 celebration.

The Finance Committee initially recommended a $10,259 allocation to Veishea, slashing its request by more than $20,000. The biggest cut was from the request for printing and advertising materials, which was reduced because the Veishea Committee has failed to comply with GSB funding criteria for the past few years.

According to the funding criteria, all student organizations that receive GSB money must include “Funded by GSB,” or another phrase to show GSB support, on all printed materials. Although the number of Veishea advertisements bearing acknowledgment of GSB backing has increased this year, some senators said if Veishea does not comply with the rules, its funding should be cut.

In the budget balancing process, the Finance Committee added $2,000 to the request, but some senators still said this wasn’t enough money for Veishea to run a quality celebration. Senators voted last week to send the recommendation back to the committee for an increase.

This week, the Finance Committee’s increase of $1,800 was unanimously accepted by the senate, putting the total Finance Committee’s allocation to Veishea 2001 at $14,059.

Despite the increase, the senate passed a bill to allocate an additional $3,100 to Veishea from the Senate Discretionary Fund. As Wednesday night’s meeting was the last scheduled GSB session for the current senate, the money remaining in the Discretionary Fund would be put into the Special Projects Fund for the next senate term.

“I believe we are not giving Veishea adequate funding to have a quality celebration next year,” said Matt Ostanik, author of the bill. “It’s much better to give this money to a student organization that is out there doing things for the whole campus instead of letting it sit in an account.”

The bill, which originally requested a $10,000 allocation from the Discretionary Fund, was amended twice to lower the amount.

Some senators thought Veishea’s failure to comply with funding criteria was reason enough to keep additional money from the celebration. Opponents of the bill said other student groups that meet the requirements do not get as much consideration as Veishea.

“We don’t reward other groups for failure,” said Steve Skutnik, LAS. “Every other group plays a critical role on this campus.”

Ostanik, Interfraternity senator, said Veishea has been punished enough for the mistakes.

“They have learned their lesson and made a much better effort this year,” he said.

The senate passed the bill by a vote of 21-13 to give the additional money to Veishea.

“Yeah, [Veishea has] made some mistakes, but every group has at one point or another,” said Garrett Toay, GSB vice president. “They just get penalized more because they are more noticed and highly publicized.”

After eight hours of debate Wednesday night and legislation still on the agenda, senators voted to adjourn the meeting until 9 p.m. Monday, when they will wrap up their business for the term.