Some Student Government Association senators say identity organizations seem to be scrutinized more heavily at Belmont’s Student Government Association meetings.
"I knew the bill was going to have a lot of questions and discussion the minute I saw it on the calendar, but I didn't expect it to be 30-minutes worth of discussion,” said senior senator Naomi Israel."
A bill was brought forward at the last SGA meeting to fund a National Pan-Hellenic Council organization's leadership members’ attendance to the sorority’s national convention, chapter events and campus-wide events. The organization was charter in 2004 and was the first of now four NPHC organizations at Belmont University.
The NPHC organization's request was met with debate that some senators thought seemed to highlight the heightened scrutiny that takes place for identity groups seeking funding from SGA. The Vision reached out to the organization for comment and has not received a response at the publishing of this article.
It initially asked for $6,000 from SGA before its finance committee brought the proposed total down to $3,000 for the senate debate.
“It is our goal that all organizations will feel comfortable and welcome to request funding. All of our student leaders are still learning and growing, which is what leadership development experiences, like SGA, are for,” vice president Olivia Patterson said in a statement.
At the start of the meeting, SGA established new debate rules in a pro-con-pro style in an attempt to improve floor debate and ensure more voices are heard on bills.
There was discussion on tabling the bill until a member of the sorority could be present to discuss the details of what they were asking for. This ultimately didn’t happen as the senate failed to table it in an 18-19 vote.
“We encourage debate on all bills presented to the senate to ensure that all questions are answered and all opinions are represented,” said Patterson.
Some senators were also concerned by the level of debate brought forward because of previous questioning that has happened when groups such as the Muslim Student Association, Women in Science and the South West Asian North African Student Association have come for funding.
This perceived trend of being reluctant to fund identity-based organizations is frustrating, said senior senator Rose Kores.
“It was interesting just to see that much debate, because in the past, we have debated about giving this level of funding to different identity-based organizations and so it was a little frustrating,” said Kores.
SGA has funded 40 organizations and 10 of them have been identity-based organizations, which have received 25% of the organizations funding for the year, said Patterson in a statement.
While the NPHC organization asked for $6,000 and was allocated $3,000, which was done because of guidelines on conference attendance, said Patterson.
“Sometimes I question why some organizations are grilled more than others, they shouldn't feel like they have to come in with several members from their organization to justify them getting the money,” said Israel. “These things don't make any sense, and I don't understand why we're giving some organizations every penny that they ask for, but the minute the others ask for anything it's an issue.”
Debate is encouraged for all bills in the senate but larger requests tend to receive more attention because of SGA’s limited budget and mission to serve all student groups, Patterson said in a statement.
“One suggestion I would have is that SGA, maybe the Finance Committee and the treasurer, could prepare them, help the organization by giving them a heads up that the Senate may have lots of questions for them and the type of questions that may get asked; from previous experience we know that larger requests are going to have more questions and debate, I don't think it's going to change any time soon,” said Israel.
But some senators questioned the seemingly consistent debate that arises when identity groups and smaller organizations ask for funding from SGA.
The bill was ultimately approved by the SGA senate and is the most that has been approved by the senate this semester. The amount is also over 10% of SGA’s $25,000 budget for the semester.
The bill was approved in a 31-2 vote after several senators gave speeches in support of it.
“I feel like the treasurer and the Finance Committee need to prepare them for the level of scrutiny they're going to receive from the Senate,” said Israel.
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This article was written by Braden Simmons