SGA Debates on More Funding for SPB

SPB representatives Magdalena Blancas (back left) and
Logan Felton (back right) make their presentation to the SGA on Monday
(Photo by Emily Bae)

By Joy Yauger, Emily Bae and Marina Schweitzer

Trinity’s Student Programming Board (SPB) asked Student Government Association for $40,000 additional funding at Monday’s meeting, sending student senators into a round of heated debate.

Representatives from SPB told the senators that they needed a bigger budget to keep up with students demand for events. The group is involved in organizing several big campus events including the annual Welcome Week concert, Tiger Fest, and Chocolate Fest, to name just a few. Monty McKeon, the director of SPB, said the organization tried to “keep up with the quality of events and quantity.” SPB already has a budget of $87,000 for the Fall Welcome Week concert.

A big quest is finding the artist to perform at the Fall 2018 Welcome Week concert. Logan Felton, sophomore representative of SPB, said that SPB offered to hire an artist for $50,000, but he was asking for $60,000 , due to his new album to be released in May. And this was not even the highest price tag among five other potential artists. The said artist was not named because no deal has been secured.

In addition, SPB was considering contributing to a spring concert for Trinity’s sesquicentennial.

Rachel Daniel, vice president of SGA, asked SPB representatives, “In terms of priority, would you rather have a Welcome Week concert that is really big that costs the whole $87,000 dollars and then make a smaller spring concert that’s not as much?”

She also reminded senators to be careful with large amount monetary requests by one event or one organization. Senators needed to keep in mind how much money SGA has to work with all of the organizations, and that enrollment of each organization plays a role in budget allocation, Daniel said.

Julia Shults, senator representing class of 2019, said some of the concerts have been amazing, worthwhile, and created magnificent memories for students. However, she continued, some artists at recent concerts were rather unknown and students were less likely to cherish the experience.

Another class of 2019 senator, Sam Afshari, proposed “cutting out shirts from the Welcome Week concert budget and putting the money towards paying the performer.” Some believed that this was a good idea, but others opposed, saying that the free Tshirts have been a big draw of the event.

To get a “temperature gauge” of the senators’ stands, Daniel put the matter to an unofficial vote. There were three choices: providing SPB with the extra $10,000 asked by the artist; offering $5,000 and letting them cut costs elsewhere; or offering them nothing more than their current budget. There were seven hands for the second option, four for the first one, and three for the third.

“SGA considered all of the different aspects regarding the issue and looked at it from both the SGA and SPB point of view,” said Daniel after the meeting. “It speaks to the fact that SGA is willing to work with the group.” 

SGA will convene again for some more budget requests and official vote on April 23.