Senator Matt Vanneman '06 prefaced budget discussion with a motion to amend the bylaws of the current AAS constitution such that the initial budget allocations for the spring term would constitute 45 percent of the spring budget, while the master-general fund would constitute 41 percent and discretionary funding would constitute 14 percent of the spring budget, decreasing the discretionary funding.
After his motion passed, the senate went on to discuss the spring recommendations. In an attempt to keep the discussion directed, AAS Vice-President Elan Ghazal '04 asked all club representatives to list their specific concerns. Senator Justin Sharaf '05 then motioned successfully to limit debate on a single issue to 15 minutes.
The BC's recommendations allocated all $141,372 of the spring budget, leaving no room for increases to club budgets without decreasing funding for another club. To avoid amending the recommendations in such a way that more money would be allocated than was actually available, Ghazal instructed senators making motions to ask for line-item decreases from other clubs' budgets before requesting increases in their own budgets. AAS Treasurer Paris Wallace '04 emphasized the fact that funding was not being taken from clubs because the BC alone does not have the authority to allocate money. "[Every club] has $0 for next semester-these are just our recommendations," he said.
Representatives from the Riding Club, the Newman Club and Chicano Caucus withdrew their requests throughout the meeting, opting to wait until discretionary funds became available the first week of second semester.
Wallace explained that the BC was cautious in its recommendations, cutting costs they perceived as unnecessary and questioning vague line-item requests. According to Wallace, "two-thirds of [all requests] had to be cut" because clubs requested nearly three times the funds available in the initial budget. The BC recommended $0 for any food request that was not integral to the activity, set publicity costs at $10 and refused to recommend funding for any vaguely described event. The BC took such measures to "give every club their fair shot with a few events," Wallace said.
Senator Dan Reiss '05 motioned to "defund the entire ski team allocation." Others present questioned the $0 recommended for the snowboarding club in light of the ski team recommendation which totalled $11,235. Vanneman explained that skiing is competitive, but snowboarding currently is not. The motion to reduce the ski team allocations to $0 failed, though other unsuccessful motions were made throughout the rest of meeting to reduce the Ski Team allocation.
Senators then moved to discuss the reasons behind the recommendation of $0 for The Amherst Hamster, a magazine dedicated to humor and satire. Foster noted that The Hamster has "an alternative source of producing their material" and went on to explain that The Hamster already puts all of its material online.
"When a Valentine worker comes up to you enraged because their kid saw an 80-year-old man giving another 80-year-old man a blow job, that says something to you," said AAS President Ryan Park '05, who is a non-voting member of the BC. He noted that the content of the last magazine included potentially libelous content regarding J. Robinson Mead, a former Amherst student on leave for disciplinary reasons, which could make the AAS vulnerable to lawsuits. "[The Hamster] doesn't do this College intellectual justice," said BC member Ethan Davis '05. Nobody motioned to alter the BC's recommendation in regards to The Hamster.
"Most of the senators in this room are probably unwilling to change the BC's recommendations," said Sam Critchlow '05, who attends the meeting on behalf of college radio station WAMH. He asked senators in favor of altering the recommendations to raise their hands; a majority of senators were willing to do so. Toward the close of the meeting, Senator Lincoln Mayer '04 urged the senate to approve the recommendations. Mayer and Davis both motioned to vote on the budget, but senators voted to continue discussion.
Senator Ian Shin '06 motioned on behalf of the Asian Student Association (ASA) and the Anime Club to reduce ASA banquet and decorations line-items by $46.36 in order to provide the Anime Club with a larger budget. The senate voted in favor of the motion.
During discussion on the motion, however, tensions arose between Park and Ghazal. Park stood and asked to speak, but was silenced by Ghazal, who believed that Park needed to "wait his turn" on the speakers' list. "Ryan, you may be the president of the AAS, but you have no more of a right to speak than anyone else," said Ghazal. Park returned to his seat and was added to the bottom of speakers' list.
In response to the lack of progress, Ghazal scheduled a meeting for tomorrow at 8 p.m. to finish budgetary deliberations rather than wait until after Thanksgiving vacation to address the budget at the next scheduled senate meeting.
Before addressing the budget summaries, senators unanimously approved the weekly discretionary funding recommendations presented by AAS Treasurer Paris Wallace '04. Humanity in Action requested $5,000 for partial funding of an Anne Frank exhibit that will be shown at Smith College in March. The BC recommended that they receive $1,200, because the event, though worthwhile and relatively accessible to Amherst students, is being held off-campus.
Noor requested and received $700 for a traditional Eid-el-Futr dinner to celebrate the end of Ramadan, the month of fasting for Muslims. The men's ultimate frisbee team requested $380 for sweatshirts, but was denied funding altogether because the AAS only provides funding for equipment that teams will reuse, like jerseys.
Senators successfully motioned just before midnight to postpone discussion of the spring budget recommendations to the special Thursday meeting. Secretary Alex Linden '05 and Senator Molibi Maphanyane '06 were removed as members of the AAS for exceeding the absence limit, which is three unexcused absences per semester.