The Student Services Finance Committee approved slightly adjusted budgets for Promoting Awareness Victim Empowerment and Movimiento Estudiantil Chican@de Aztlán Thursday.
PAVE is a student organization that focuses on raising awareness for and preventing sexual assault, domestic violence and stalking.
The group’s programming includes events tailored for national awareness months, including Domestic Violence Awareness Month in October. PAVE has also outlined plans for a bus and poster campaign to set a new standard for response to and prevention of sexual assault.
PAVE’s total budget was approved at $79,944.63.
SSFC members also voted to approve MEChA’s budget after the group’s initial budget decision had been postponed due to confusion surrounding their budget and concern over a possible violation of student-fee allocation.
MEChA is a student organization that promotes Chican@ culture and works to encourage higher education opportunities for members of the Chican@ community.
The group works by attending national and regional conferences as well as by hosting speakers and events centered around Chican@ culture.
There was, however, some dispute among committee members regarding multiple items in the group’s budget.
One such item was a request for high-end music production equipment and software for different cultural events hosted by the group. There was also debate over a line item requesting airfare for members to attend various conferences.
Secretary Brett DuCharme pointed out that MEChA looked to send far more people than other student organizations and felt it would only be fair to adjust MEChA’s budget appropriately.
Both the music equipment and airfare items were lowered and the final budget was approved at $91,977.96.
Veterans, Educators, and Traditional Students also presented a budget request to committee members for 2015-’16.
VETS aims to assist students and improve their learning by providing exposure to veterans with a variety of first-hand military experiences. In addition, VETS provides student veterans with information on benefits and support activities.
“Kids here might learn about politics, but they don’t see what that actually means on the ground in a lot of places,” Jacob Beebe, president of VETS, said.
SSFC will make a decision regarding VETS’s budget Monday.
