College Republicans got its funding temporarily revoked this semester by administration for violating university policy.
The first strike was received as a result of the group not adhering to Belmont’s mask mandate.
“Then the other strike was that we had a speaker come and speak which was deemed unapproved,” said Emma Curtis, president of College Republicans.
Student organizations function on a three-strike system that gives out progressively more severe consequences for continued infractions. Penalties include being barred from the Bruin Link fair and the inability to apply for funding that semester.
The second infraction was related to an unapproved speaker last spring.
Gib Kerr was invited to speak to promote his book “States of Rebellion.” During the discussion, he spread political misinformation regarding the 2020 election.
In previous years, College Republicans used SGA funding to host speakers and club events.
Now with a budget of zero it can’t do either.
College Republicans plans to apply for SGA funding when it is re-eligible in the spring.
While the Republicans knew their budget was cut, SGA, which is responsible for allocating funds to students organizations, did not know about the financial hold.
SGA president Kaelinn Sabline-Schlusse was surprised by these consequences.
“I didn’t even know that this was something that administration could do,” she said. “We had not heard of any sort of loss of funding with College Republicans”.
Courtney Heier, associate director of student engagement, said strikes accumulate on a yearly basis, meaning the punishment wasn’t levied until this fall.
“The two strikes that occurred for the group were towards the end of last academic year. So since we had a strike occur at the end of the semester, it made more sense to apply consequences to the upcoming semester,” Heier said.
This semester the club wants to move forward with a new executive board.
Curtis said under this new leadership, the group is planning to present a more welcoming and inclusive environment.
“We would really like to connect with everybody on campus. We want to work with College Democrats and perhaps do some events with them and create a partnership, as well as other clubs on campus,” she said. “We would love to connect with everyone on campus regardless of political standing.”
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This article was written by Braden Simmons.
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