Bylaw questioned again

Forty minutes of yesterday’s 60-minute ASUA meeting was spent discussing whether the senators should approve $160 requested by Intervarsity Christian Fund for two of their members to attend a Northern University conference.

The request brought up the same issue senators have been dealing with for two weeks since they denied funding for a Christian concert: What purpose is considered exclusively religious?

Sen. Amy Drapkin,

a political science sophomore, didn’t think ASUA bylaws would allow them to fund this event due to it being religious in nature. Sen. Dustin Cox, a political science senior, agreed with Drapkin.

“”I went to the appropriations meeting, and I am not sure we can faithfully apply our bylaws,”” Cox said. “”Their agenda didn’t have enough information to make an informed decision.””

Sen. Cox and Sen. Mark Copoulos, a history senior, requested the Senate re-address the question and take the time to get more information regarding the event to ensure it did not violate the bylaws.

“”It doesn’t hurt to send it back and wait one more week,”” Copoulos said. “”We don’t know if it violates our bylaws, and we will be able to make an educated decision once we have more facts.””

Sen. James Pennington-McQueen, a history senior, brought up the idea that maybe it was not what the money was going toward that was confusing, but that everyone was interpreting the bylaws differently.

“”We passed our bylaws unanimously, and today we don’t all agree with what this bylaw means,”” he said. “”We need a more definite interpretation.””

Cox disagreed with Pennington-McQueen, saying it is not the bylaw, but the event itself, that is confusing.

“”The bylaws are very straightforward,”” he said. “”We are not rejecting funding. We are requesting more information from the Intervarsity Christian club.””

Sen. Seema Patel, an general biology junior, agreed the ASUA senators need to properly interpret their bylaws.

“”We don’t understand our own bylaws, and we are going to keep having this conversation until we properly interpret the bylaws,”” she said.

All senators agreed to have an emergency appropriations meeting to find out more information on what the $160 would be used for. Once the Appropriations Board meets, then the senators will have an emergency meeting in the following 48 hours to make a final decision.

The decision was tabled for now.

The remaining 20 minutes was spent reviewing various committee and senator activity reports.

The senators agreed without discussion to fund 10 other requests.

ASUA approved $1,105.20 of the $1,395.20 requested by the Emergency Medicine Club for two of their members’ flights and hotel.

Senators similarly approved $267.30 of the $534.60 requested from the Marine Awareness and Conservation club for an high-occupancy vehicle for their members to travel to Mexico for underwater exploration and other marine activities.