SGA denies funds, adds new members

By: Meredith Whelchel – Managing Editor

At its weekly meeting, the University of Dayton Student Government Association continued hearing special requests for funding and approved the appointment of two new members.

The Campus Concert Committee requested $8,000 from SGA to help fund its event next semester on April 4. The committee was unable to reveal the identity of the performer, but did say contract negotiations were currently in place with a country artist.

The request for $8,000 represents roughly 25 percent of SGA’s special request fund, said vice president of finance and junior management information systems and finance major Allie Michel.

Last year, the committee was given $15,000 to host 8th-season “American Idol” winner Kris Allen at Ladder 11 on Brown Street.

With 19 voting Senate members present, the committee was denied its request and received no funding from SGA.

The Campus Concert Committee, established four years ago, is a student-run organization that provides campus and the city of Dayton a medium-scale concert, according to its UD website.

Michel said about $25,000 was left in the special request fund after two weeks of hearings.

Two new positions were also added during the weekly meeting, including survey coordinator and a spring 2014 director of campus utility. Sophomore political science major Colleen Castle will serve as SGA’s survey coordinator, responsible for interpreting data resulting from student surveys. SGA president Megan Abbate, senior English and young childhood education major, said Castle possesses a “passion for statistics” making her an ideal candidate for the position. Sophomore environmental biology major Matthew Kirian will serve as the spring 2014 director of campus utility, as the current director will be traveling to Argentina to study abroad.