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Multicultural groups confused about funding

Members unsure about where to go for money

By Erin Sommer

Monday, October 8, 2007

Student Senate Finance Committee questioned how to use the Multicultural Education Fund on Wednesday after the Multicultural Education Fund board met for the first time this year. The debate focused on whether funds should be supplemental or primary for multicultural groups and events.

Senate rules and regulations specifies that the Multicultural Education Fund can fund up to 25 percent over $1,000, in addition to the 50 percent over $1,000 that Student Senate can fund a event or group. Rules and Regulations do not state whether multicultural groups or events should seek primary funds from Student Senate or primary funds from the Multicultural Education Fund board.

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I think it’s already hindered business. It’s great to have if it’s used right.

-Ray Wittlinger, Olathe senior and student body vice president

The Multicultural Education Fund, currently consisting of about $70,000, was created in April 2006 after University of Kansas students voted on a referendum. The vote increased student fees by $1.50 per fall and spring semesters and 75 cents for the summer semester to provide additional funding for multicultural groups and events on campus. The University then created the Multicultural Education Fund board, which consisted of four members of the Multicultural Resource Center and four student senators representing the Finance Committee, University Affairs Committee, Student Rights’ Committee and Multicultural Affairs Committee, that met no less than once a month to determine which groups or events received funds.

Some senators think Senate rules and regulations are unclear about whether multicultural groups should go to Senate or the MCEF Board first if they need funding.

Austin Kelly, Lawrence senior and student body treasurer, said that this was not made clear in the referendum or by the Student Executive Committee when it wrote the Board into Rules and Regulations.

“The referendum was written by StudEx last summer, and it was thrown together,” Kelly said. “This should have been done last year. This should have been over.”

Kelly said that he did not have an opinion on whether the funding should be primary or supplemental.

“The most important thing is that the MCEF Board needs to fund things that Senate can’t,” Kelly said.

Kelly said that he was concerned the board would only be used by groups such as the Black Student Union and Hispanic American Leadership Organization. He said he was afraid those groups, along with a couple of other large minority organizations, would drain the Fund.

Hannah Love, Dodge City senior, student body president and one of the original authors of the referendum, said that the fund was intended to be supplemental, and this was clearly written in Student Senate rules and regulations.

“A lot of the uproar is confusion,” Love said. “People think they’re double dipping, but they’re not.”

Love also said that the Multicultural Resource Center had engaged in outreach to prevent the funds from only going to one group.

Michael Wade Smith, Goodland freshman and Finance Committee representative on the MCEF board, said that groups needed to be told where to go first to receive funding.

“That fund should be a supplemental fund. They should be able to come and double dip,” Smith said. “Finance just doesn’t want that group to be another finance committee.”

Ray Wittlinger, Olathe senior and student body vice president, said he thought the fund was intended to be supplemental. He also said that he understood the confusion senators had over the issue, and that a consensus needed to be reached this year about how to approach the funds.

“I think it’s already hindered business,” Wittlinger said. “It’s great to have if it’s used right.”

Love said that executive members of Senate needed to sit down with committees to clarify Appendix N, which was the section of rules and regulations devoted to the Multicultural Education Fund Board. She also said it was up to senators to make sure the confusion did not delay Senate business.

“It’s their own fault,” Love said. “They need to sit down and read Appendix N.”

— Edited by Kaitlyn Syring

Comments

Multicultural groups confused about funding

As a quotee in this article I would like to amend amisquote. "Double dipping" is not the purpose of this fund. The STUDENTS of the University of Kansas voted for a referendum that would create a fee to expand the amount of Multicultural programs and activities that would be seem on campus. From that fee we get the Multicultural Education Fund. It is not double dipping, it is the use of a fee that the students voted on to provide a campus that needs more multicultural awareness with more opportunities to gain it.

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