In recent weeks, the Association of Amherst Students (AAS) Senate has been debating a $100,000 monetary gift to the College in light of the economic crisis. With the $30,000 portion passed in a referendum last week, the AAS will conduct a survey March 11 to decide how the remaining $70,000 will be allocated.

Students can decide whether they want to donate the funds, which will come from the AAS Reserves, and also which option they would prefer. The first, the Financial Aid and Staff Salaries package, would give $50,000 to the College financial aid “to support the continuation of need-blind admission policies,” according to an AAS e-mail to the College. It would then allocate $20,000 to help maintain the salaries of College staff who have the lowest income.

The other option, the Visiting Professorship package, would donate the $70,000 to the Dean of Faculty to retain one visiting professor for one year to help uphold “the College’s tradition of broad course offerings, small class sizes and overall academic excellence.”