The Recognized Student Organization Funding Board of the Associated Students of the University of Wyoming reported at its Monday meeting that it is approximately $3,000 behind in awarding funds when compared with the same time last year.
“Last year at this point we were at $81,000,” ASUW Director of Finance Chris Haakinson said.
Haakinson estimated the fund would be between $85,000 and $84,000 at the end of the meeting. Just less than 12 percent of the event funds for the year has been spent.
ASUW staff and accounting associate Kristy Isaak said the committee is on track for the year and there are options if the money runs out, citing availability of reserve funds.
The RSO Funding Board approved dollars toward four events on campus and one conference registration.
The Associated Students Interested in China requested $8,000 to bring four traditional Chinese musicians that specialize in little-known instruments to the university. The event will be a concert and a class where the artists teach students how to play the instruments.
“Music is the language that everybody speaks, so we don’t have to worry about the language barrier,” group president Erika Partenheimer said.
The board gave the group a preliminary award of $7,000 due to issues with being unable to directly pay a UW professor as a performer. The group will seek outside funds.
Wyoming Swing Club was given a preliminary award of $1,550 to host a Halloween dance featuring a live band. Most of the money will go to the band David Booker Swingtet, which will provide the swing music. The request was reduced by $350 to compensate for the amount of outside funds the group expected to receive and an overestimate on cost by the organization.
The Student Art League was awarded $800 to fund the year’s nude models for the extracurricular drawing class Croquis. The funds will allow the program to have human models for life drawing and other art enthusiasts on campus and get rid of the current door fee.
“In art, it’s really important to be able to draw or render the human figure as accurately as possible. There are a lot of nuances in the human body that are difficult to capture,” Croquis coordinator Nathan Huseth said.
The University of Wyoming Cardinal Key National Honor Society was awarded $561 to defray advertising and other costs for the UW Gold Scholarship. The scholarship was created to replace the homecoming royalty with model students who excel in areas of academics and leadership.
Cardinal Key originally requested the $990 for two full-page advertisements in the Branding Iron newspaper to publicize the semifinalists and finalists.
“I don’t know if it’s necessary for two full-page ads,” Sen. Jaymie Sheehan said.
Sen. Luis Garcia advised that the senate voted to fund only one advertisement last year and that it might do the same for consistency.
“Twenty years is a long time. At what point does this become normal operating cost? I don’t feel comfortable with this,” Garcia said.
Isaak told the board to tread lightly as far as annual events.
“Diwali has been a program for 20 years. The powwow has been a program for 30 years,” Isaak said.
Other senators expressed doubts about the program as a whole.
“I’m not sure about the educational value of seeing another student get an award,” Sen. Dustin Bales said.
The board voted to cut $429 to fund only one advertisement and approved the request.
The RSO Engineers without Borders received $500 to send nine students to Boulder for the organization’s annual conference.
