Student Government convened Wednesday evening for a short meeting, with the Senate moving through five funding requests in less than two hours.

With two bills removed from the agenda and one postponed indefinitely, the Senate funded $1,731 to the InterVarsity Christian Fellowship to attend a conference; $1,463 to Cyclone Rocketry to attend a competition and $110 to Alpha Phi Omega to attend a conference. 

The Senate also decided to vote against funding the African Students Association for a master of ceremonies for its African Night in April.

The African Students Association was originally requesting $2,500 to fund a scholarship to students, but the Senate amended the bill to just reflect the host costs.

Finance Director Steven Valentino said the group had already received $3,500 during annual allocation process last year. 

To get into the event, the African Students Association is charging $10. However, this goes against a bylaw in the Student Government events account that says items funded from this account must be free to students. 

Ultimately, the Senate decided against funding the organization and encouraged them to approach the Student Union Board or Committee on Lectures to obtain a host.

A funding request of $300 to the Fisheries and Wildlife Biology Club was also failed by Student Government after a lengthy debate by the Senate.

Originally, the student organization was requesting funding for the Wildlife Society North Central Section Student Conclave they are hosting in March.

The conclave costs $85 to attend, which goes against Student Government’s bylaws stating an event funded by the events account must be free.

To work around this, Sen. Chelsea Eret moved for the funding to come from Iowa State’s Excellence Fund—an account targeted at student initiatives and projects that “might go beyond the average request and might not easily receive funding through other forms of funding mechanisms.”

“Just because it qualifies doesn’t mean we necessarily need to fund it,” Sen. Sam Rankin said.

However, Eret felt by funding the event it could help it to become self-sustaining and spread the work that Iowa State is doing in that field.

The Senate ultimately failed the bill.

Student Government will convene next Wednesday at 7 p.m. in the Campanile Room of the Memorial Union.