The Associated Student Government (ASG) passed five bills to send club sports teams to their regional and national championships during their Feb. 14 meeting. Two of these bills, for the Nordic and Alpine ski teams and the hockey team, were later cut completely during conference committee.
Discussion during the process centered around fiscal responsibility, especially regarding bills for the club ski teams and the club swim team to attend their national championships.
According to Jacob Wellborn, the Fee Allocation Committee (FAC) chair, ASG has dipped into their reserves for some of their budgets, and if their spending trend continues, they will dip into the reserves of Regional and National Competition Fund (RNCF) as well. The RNCF budget is used to send students specifically to competition events for which they have qualified.
Proponents of conservative fiscal responsibility included Senators Jeff Vela, Richard Nguyen and Jacob Kernc. Nguyen proposed nearly all the amendments that cut money from the two most expensive club bills: Nordic/Alpine skiing and swim.
ASG debated the club Nordic/Alpine ski team bill first, which would allocate $4,692 to send nine students, seven from the Nordic team and two from the Alpine team, to their national championships.
Reese Kegans, the manager of club sports, explained that the seven Nordic ski team athletes each have a chance to win a national title in their respective event. The team as a whole also has a chance at a national title and historically has produced many all-Americans.
Nguyen, however, quickly proposed an amendment to the bill, arguing that the team has adequate time to do more fundraising. Their national championships take place the first weekend in March. Nguyen’s amendment, which would cut $813.26 from the bill, or two nights at the hotel, failed.
Kernc proposed removing the approximately $400 registration fee from the bill, a cut that would only cost approximately $50 per student. Kernc’s amendment passed.
ASG passed the bill with this amendment.
The other club bill under scrutiny would allocate $6,470 to send 23 students from the club swim team to their national championships. During his presentation, Kegans said that club swimming is one of the most expensive club sports, especially in regard to travel.
In keeping with their emphasis on fiscal responsibility, ASG made two cuts to the bill: the $1,800 for the rental car and the $150 for gas. Nguyen and Kernc proposed the two amendments, respectively. Both argued that the amount per student that the cut would cost was minimal compared to the total cost.
ASG also passed this bill after the two amendments carried on the floor.
Many senators, such as Jay Shearrow, were opposed to cuts to bills for qualified national teams so close to their national championships.
“This is placing an unnecessary burden on athletes that stand a very good chance to bring home a national championship,” Shearrow said.
Senator Amara Hobbs also shared this viewpoint, and advocated funds not be cut so that athletes could focus on competition.
Both Nguyen and Vela argued that this viewpoint unfairly favored club athletics over academic clubs, as Vela argued that club sports already received a portion of student fees, and the money from the bills that night is additional.
“How can we be fair to these clubs that aren’t club sports and don’t get extra money put into their budget?” Vela asked senators.
Likely, the debate between financial responsibility and giving opportunities to academic and athletic clubs will continue into the year, as RNCF, formerly the healthiest of the budgets, would have been cut in half, if the subsequent conference committee did not cut bills for the Nordic and hockey teams.
In other action:
ASG allocated $500 from RNCF to send five students from the club disc golf team to their national championship in April, after cutting the $250 registration fee, which the club had already paid. Historically, ASG does not reimburse.
ASG allocated $2293.50 from RNCF to send eight students from the Alpine ski team to their regional championship next week.
ASG allocated $2613 from RNCF to send 21 club hockey players to their regional championships next week. The bill was later cut in conference committee.
ASG passed the third of their constitutional amendment bills, which will redefine two of the categories for senators, creating a music senator and a theatre and arts senator, in place of the fine and performing arts senator suggestion from last week. These new designations are more in line with how CMU differentiates the two academic departments.
ASG tabled their fourth and final constitutional amendment bill until their Feb. 21 meeting.
