Treasurer Paris Wallace '04 presented the complete spring budget for approval. Though he did not have the exact number of students enrolled for the spring semester, he used the estimated figure of 1,575-the number enrolled in the fall-to gauge the budget. The money collected from the student activities fee will total $294,525.
According to the changes made to the constitution last semester, 41 percent of that amount will be allocated to the master-general fund, which includes funding for ACEMS, the AAS operating budget, the Five-College Fine Arts fee, Amherst College Program Board, PVTA, Social Council and MassPIRG.
Forty-nine percent of the budget covers the initial club allocations that were approved last semester, while the remaining 10 percent, in addition to rollover from the fall, comprises the discretionary fund. The total amount available for discretionary funding this semester is $52,453.
Judiciary council (JC) Chair Andre Deckrow '06 announced that the promised online database of campus organization names and contacts has been compiled and will be put on the new JC website in the coming weeks.
He also notified senators that a hearing will be held to hear a complaint regarding the senate attendance policy. Because senators will not be able to sit on the JC during the hearing, other members of the student body will be picked for the special hearing.
Deckrow then announced that he planned to resign as JC chair, effective at 12 a.m. on Feb. 14. By then, a new JC chair will have been officially elected to serve in his place.
He said after the meeting that he has a great deal of pent-up frustration toward the AAS. "[The AAS] has proved time and time again that it refuses to listen to the student body," said Deckrow. Deckrow called the AAS a "glorified 32-person budgetary committee" and said the organization is adversarial towards students.
"The AAS is quite impotent and also incompetent and it's not the type of organization I want to associate myself with," he said at the meeting.
Senator Matt Vanneman '06 informed the senate that several senior seats, as well as a junior and a sophomore seat, were open to be filled in an upcoming general election. The student body will elect a new JC chair and secretary in the general election as well.
The election schedule includes an informational meeting to be held on Tuesday, Feb. 3, a speech night on Wednesday, Feb. 11 and the actual election, which will take place online on Thursday, Feb. 12.
In general announcements, President Ryan Park '05 suggested that the first-year and sophomore class councils work on a "Sounds of Amherst" music CD for their semester project. Neither council officially committed to the idea, which Park worked on last year as well.
Ghazal held brief elections for open seats on a variety of committees that are scheduled to meet before the February election of senators. Senators Gloria Monfrini '07, Jin-Young Kim '05 and Ian Shin '06 were elected to the budgetary committee. Senator Levan Moulton '07 was elected to the Committee on Priorities and Resources, while Senator John Lian '06 was elected to the Trustee Advisory Committee on Trusteeship. Wallace and Senator Kay Bradley '04 were elected to the Space Allocation Committee.