The Student Senate debated for three hours last week before finally approving a proposal to give $1,600 of Student Activity Fee money to the Model UN. The group needs the money to send eight students to this year’s World Model UN (WorldMUN) conference in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. At issue was the size of the request, which exceeds the Senate’s official spending limit per-student and the fact that all of those going to Egypt have already been on one or more trips this year. Those who favored the proposal pointed out the group’s award-winning performance in years past and the fact that the group puts on a similar conference for area high-school students each year.
Senate Treasurer John Marshall was among those who voiced concerns with the proposal.
“We’re not a bank. We’re supposed to allocate the SAF fairly,” he said. “When people ask about what the Activity Fee was spent on, I’m gonna have to answer ‘well, this one person spent $1,000 to go on three conferences this year.'” Six of the students going to Egypt have already been on two conferences this year. The remaining two have both been to one conference each.
The Model UN group has already received $800 from the Board of Student Organizations (BSO). That, combined with the senate’s contribution, makes $2,400 of Activity Fee money, which divides to $300 per student going. The Student Senate’s official cap per student is $250.
The group originally asked for $2,400, which would have worked out to $400 per person going. When the senate balked at that figure, Assistant to the Dean of Student Life Chris O’Connor suggested the proposal be amended to $1,600 for the trip to Egypt and $800 for the conference the group will put on for high-school students when they return; the senate ultimately adopted this bit of financial judo.
A vocal minority argued in favor a $1,200 award, which would honor the $250 per-student cap. The majority of the Senate, however, was in favor of giving the full $2,400 figure, arguing that the group’s success at the conferences are invaluable in stoking USM’s international prestige.
“When you go to an interview later, people will see you went to USM and say, ‘Oh, you’re the guys who won awards at the international conferences’,” Model UN member Tim Griffin said.
“It’s groups like this that are gonna add value to your diploma,” agreed Senator Mike Barden.
Senate Secretary Sarah Hines was not so optimistic.
“I’ve been on conferences too, and we all know it mostly benefits those who go,” she said. Hines was among the most vociferous opponents of the full $2,400 figure. She and others expressed trepidation at the Senate’s dwindling funds. After passing the Model UN proposal and some others last Friday, the senate’s unallocated fund stands at $3,615.50. That is the second-lowest figure for the unallocated fund in the second week of March for the last five years. In the 2000-2001 academic year, the fund stood at $1,150.57. In 1999-2000, it was $10,000.
The Model UN members bristled at the Senate’s misgivings, arguing that the Senate has been free with its money before now.
“Are we suddenly going to be the group that doesn’t get money? If we’d come earlier, maybe the sentiment would be different,” said Julia Edwards, president of the Model UN Edwards is also a member of the Senate.
“How many events do you think are gonna come forward that are as valuable or more? We are not embarrassed to ask for this much money,” said Elizabeth Mann, Model UN member and president of the BSO.
The group’s proposal notes that the Model UN has never asked the Senate for money before. They came to the senate on short notice – eight days before they leave for Egypt – because other expected sources of funds fell through.
The Senate has voted over the cap twice this year. In December, Words and Images received $1,796.46 to send five members to a conference. In October, the Senate contributed $673.03 to help send Joseph Swanson, a senior Philosophy major to an academic conference in Bulgaria, where he was the only undergraduate participant. He originally asked for $1,000.
“We gave Joe a really hard time. We made him give a lecture and a slide show. He invited the whole senate and no one showed up. These people are saying that they can bring something back and people actually show up,” Senate Parliamentarian Ezekiel Kimball said, referring to the Model UN’s annual high school Model UN conferences.
270 high school students from Maine, Connecticut, and Massachusetts attended the Model U.N.’s last conference. The first high school conference was held in 1999 and the annual event has since become popular in the area, said Model UN President Julia Edwards. Some students now travel from outside Maine to attend the conferences. The high school conventions mimic the WorldMUN in every possible way. The attendees live in the Gorham dormitories for three days, eat Aramark food and argue world politics from the perspective of the countries to which they are assigned. Edwards said members of the group also teach classes at local high schools throughout the year. The Model UN representatives – and some senators – argued that the group’s community outreach puts USM on the community radar and serves as a recruiting tool with the high school students.
The conferences also cost a little over twice as much the trip to Egypt will. Last year the conference cost $24,425.58.
The Model UN’s proposal says that the trip will cost a total of $10,802. As of press time, the group raised $1,035 from two car washes and four bake sales. An exact figure on that car wash was not available by press time, according to Edwards. President Pattenaude’s office, Provost Joe Wood’s office and Dean of Student Life Joe Austin’s office donated $500 each to the group. The Office of International Exchange donated $176 and Imad Khalidi, CEO of Auto Europe donated $1,000. That is a total of $3,676 or a little over one third of the total amount needed for the trip.
With the $2,400 of Student Activity Fee money, the Model UN has amassed $4,126. If the group does not raise any more money, it will cost each student a little over $500 to cover the difference.