The USM Chamber Singers received $3,900 to help pay for their European tour in the summer of 2005. The amount requested will cover approximately 11 percent of the airfare for the 39 students going on the trip.
Before the Senate assembled, Senate Chair Ezekiel Kimball, Parliamentarian Adam Mirmelli and Senator Mike Barton met with USMCS President Elisa Haveles to discuss whether or not the request would come into conflict with a proposal passed last semester, which prevents the Student Senate from using the Student Activity Fee to “support the activities of an academic class or University administrative functions.”
“It is not for course credit,” said Haveles in the pre-meeting discussion. “The class is half credit, but the tour takes place after school gets out. We don’t receive any credit for going or not going on the tour.” She also said two additional students, who are not part of the class, are included in the 39 students receiving the funding. Previously the Dominican Health Outreach program did not receive expected funds historically allocated to them from the Student Activity Fee due to this policy.
“A statement of policy like this functions [as] both a rule and kind of a guideline,” said Kimball, when explaining the policy to Haveles. “There are shades of violations. For example if this document isn’t explicitly violated then it goes before the Senate and each senator gets to make their own value judgment.”
When the Senate took up the matter during their regular meeting, Mirmelli, speaking for the Constitutional Review Committee, said “There was a question if the student activity fee statement was violated. It wasn’t.”
Questions from the senate floor were brief. Senator Andrew Bossie inquired about the “administrative and personal fee.”
“That’s for processing our payments,” said Haveles. According to her, the fee does not go to pay any professors or USM administrators. The administrative and personal fee also covers the groups guide said Haveles, “from the time we arrive in Munich till we leave in southern France, we have a courier with us.”
Newly appointed senator, Brian Decampos, asked how many concerts the group would give. According to Haveles there are four formal concerts planned, “but we’ll probably perform 20 more times.” She listed subways and street corners for these informal performances.