Associated Student Government (ASG) discussed two major bills during their Sept. 14 meeting. The first of these bills concerned the reimbursement for Colorado Mesa University President Tim Foster, who purchased a trailer for the school’s live Rowdy mascot, with his discretionary fund. The second of these bills concerned pulling money from SCRF in order to purchase supplies, food and Maverick gear for the upcoming football tailgates.
ASG President Ben Linzey presented the first of these bills, which is one that ASG previously amended in their Aug. 30 meeting to include a $6,000 refund for Foster. However, the subsequent conference committee removed this refund from the bill until Foster could provide a receipt for the purchase.
Last Monday, the bill was introduced to the Fee Allocation Committee with the accurate reimbursement amount of $6,125. The reimbursement bill passed unanimously in FAC, due to the absence of representatives Josh Stover and Alec Williams, who were both opposed to the reimbursement in the absence of the receipt. Both representatives raised concern over a reimbursement initially because a receipt was not presented.
During the ASG meeting, Linzey proposed that this amount is allocated from the transportation budget to purchase the trailer for the “Rowdy Wranglers.” He argued that the money should come from the larger, university transportation budget, rather than the presidential discretionary fun since the trailer is being used specifically for the transportation of Rowdy.
Initially, Linzey said he was going to use an executive order to reimburse Foster for his purchase, but decided to present the bill to ASG instead to give representatives Stover and Williams time to speak with the senators if they still felt the refund should not be approved. Neither representative spoke against this action to senators.
After a comment of support from senate leader Samantha Gaasch, the bill passed unanimously.
ASG then moved to discuss the second bill on their agenda, which concerned how supplies for the upcoming ASG-sponsored tailgates would be purchased. Chrystina Meador presented the bill, which proposed that an amount slightly over $1000 be allocated from SCRF for the purchase of food, condiments, supplies and Maverick gear.
The proposed food was hot dogs, and cinnamon rolls for earlier games. The Maverick gear included towels and buffs, which were two items external affairs felt hadn’t been overused at games in the past.
Meador said the supplies are not only for the upcoming tailgate, but also include gear for two October events, one of these being the homecoming game. Since the bill concerned an event for all students, Linzey believed that pulling from the student-controlled reserve fund (SCRF), rather than their own funds, was appropriate.
The bill passed unanimously.
After the meeting, Linzey explained his rationale behind allocating money from SCRF for the tailgate. Linzey clarified that although all their events are for the benefit of students, most of them are constitutionally mandated, whereas the tailgate is a brand new event and not mandated.
He also explained that ASG utilized just over 30 percent of the SCRF budget last year, and he wanted to see more of these funds go back to the students in the form of events. Linzey also said that if the event was included in an organization’s budget in the future, it would likely be the Programming Activities Council or Greek Life, since ASG serves a different purpose on campus.
“But we love being a part of it now,” Linzey said.
When the meeting moved to senate discussion, senators considered how they could reduce underage drinking at these tailgate events. Meador explained that students over 21 will now be given wristbands, in a visible attempt to discourage underage students from consuming alcohol. ASG will also be encouraging students to bring their IDs to the game, so that senators can casually check them.
However, Vice President Gabby Gile said since they didn’t want to put student leaders in a position of such significant authority at a campus event, senators themselves are not required to check them. Rather, Meador, Gile and Linzey hope that ASG can set a positive example by not having their underage senators drink.
Linzey and Meador were concerned that too a strict of measures regarding this topic might discourage any students from attending the tailgates.