Spring Budgeting Overview Timeline Basic Elements of a Budget SFC Allocation
SFC Appeals Process Eligibility Initiation Appeal Review Process Appeal Allocation Process: Return of the Budget to the Student Finance Committee
Overview The Spring Allocation process is the primary method for chartered student organizations to request and receive funding to operate throughout the following academic year.
In order to submit a budget for consideration, an organization must be:
Considered active by updating officer list with Student Union at the beginning of the semester
Treasurer-trained by the Office of the Student Treasurer
SFC Allocation In evaluating budgets and determining allocations, the SFC will emphasize the following factors, particularly when determining whether to increase or decrease an organization’s allocation from the previous year:
The overall utility achieved by organizations with their allocated funds
The level of responsibility demonstrated in spending
Voting will take place in accordance with procedures established in the SFC Bylaws.
SFC Appeals Process In accordance with Section 11 of the Constitution of the Association of Students of Oberlin College, student organizations may appeal the allocation granted to them by the SFC for their annual budget, if they believe that the allocation was made in an unfair or arbitrary manner. SFC shall serve as the body of appeals, and should the organization choose to appeal the final allocation due to the first appeal, they must go to Student Senate.
Eligibility:
Only chartered, active student organizations may submit a budget appeal request.
Allocations through the ad-hoc process are not eligible for an appeal, unless they constitute the annual budget of a student organization.
The Student Senate, the SFC, and the Office of the Student Treasurer may not appeal their budgets.
In order to appeal a budget, the organization must submit their original budget to SFC and highlight where their grievance(s) lies as well as new information that accords to SFC policy.
Initiation In order to initiate a budget appeal, an organization must submit a written complaint and request for a budget appeal not less than one week prior to the Senate plenary session at which the appeal request will be heard. This complaint must thoroughly document the organization’s grievances against the budget allocation decision made by the SFC, and reasons that the organization believes the decision to have been made in an unfair or arbitrary manner.
This request must be submitted to:
The Committee-elected Co-Chair of the SFC
The Senate-elected Co-Chair of the SFC
The Liaison of Student Senate
The Operations Manager of Student Senate
The Operations Manager of Student Senate is obligated to place the appeal request on the agenda for the next Senate plenary session that is at least one week after the submission of the written request, and to ensure that all Student Senators receive a copy of the written request at least three days prior to the plenary session at which the appeal will be heard. The Committee-elected Co-Chair of the SFC will notify all members of the SFC that an appeal has been requested, and that all members may attend the meeting at which the appeal request will be heard.
Appeal Review Process: The initial appeal will take place during a regularly scheduled plenary session of the Student Senate. At least one (1) SFC member and one (1) OST member must be present. The Liaison and the Treasurer of the appealing organization must also be present, in addition to any other appropriate representatives. For budget appeal requests, the Senate facilitator may not have any affiliation with either the appealing organization or the SFC. Senate is required to choose a new facilitator if the current facilitator has a past or present connection to either organization. For the purposes of this process, an affiliation is defined as follows:
Past or present membership in an organization
Signing an organization’s charter, even if one does not become a member of the organization.
1. The appealing organization will be granted a ten-minute period in which to argue that the SFC’s budget allocation was made in an unfair and arbitrary manner. The Secretary shall give the appealing organization a two-minute warning prior to the end of the ten-minute period.
2. The SFC will then be granted a ten-minute period in which to explain and defend the methodology and rationale behind its allocation to the appealing organization. The Secretary shall give the SFC a two-minute warning prior to the end of the ten-minute period.
3. The Student Senate will then have a period no longer than twenty minutes to ask relevant questions of the members of the SFC and the appealing organization in order to determine the validity of the appealing organization’s claims.
Senators may not use this period for a discussion or to present their own personal opinions on the matter. They may only use this time to ask relevant questions of either the members of the SFC or the members of the appealing organization. If a Senator attempts to abuse this process by stating personal opinions or asking questions that are not relevant, the Operations Manager, at the conclusion of the twenty-minute period, shall propose to assign the Senator who attempted to abuse the process 3 points and to have them be censured. If the Operations Manager is the Senator who is attempting to abuse the process, the Liaison shall make this proposal.
4. At the conclusion of these three processes, the Senate will enter executive session for no longer than 15 minutes, after executive session Senate must vote whether the appeal is legitimate. Senate may not delay this vote to a following plenary session. As per the Constitution of the Association of Students of Oberlin College, an appeal is only legitimate if and only if the appealing organization demonstrates that the SFC exercised its power in an unfair or arbitrary nature. The following Senators are required to recuse themselves from voting on the legitimacy of the appeal:
The Senate-elected SFC Co-Chair
Any Senator who has an affiliation with the appealing organization of the SFC, as defined by these bylaws.
5.The appeal shall be deemed legitimate and shall move forward if and only if two-thirds of the Student Senators who are not required to recuse themselves vote in the affirmative. For the purposes of this vote, quorum is two-thirds of all Senators who are not required by these bylaws to recuse themselves.
Appeal Allocation Process: If the Student Senate determines that an appeal is legitimate, they must call an additional Plenary session within 3 days of the Plenary when the initial appeal was heard. This Plenary will be called to review the budget of the appealing organization and to allocate funds. The Student Treasurer or Assistant Treasurer shall be invited to this specially scheduled plenary session to serve as a resource on SFC’s allocation policies. The Student Senate shall be bound by all allocation policies of the SFC. The meeting will be open to the public and minutes shall be taken, but only Senators who are permitted to vote under the stipulations outlined in these bylaws may participate in discussion. The following Senators must recuse themselves from the appeal discussion and allocation:
The Senate-elected Co-Chair of the SFC
Any Senator who has an affiliation with the appealing organization or the SFC, as defined by previously in these bylaws.
The Plenary session shall begin with a period of discussion, to last no longer than one and one half hour. During this period of discussions senators can propose changes to the appealing organizations budget. The Secretary will give regular updates as to how much time remains in the discussion. In the event of conflicting proposals, approval voting shall be used to determine the order in which the proposals shall be voted on. At the conclusion of the discussion period, there will be a voting process in which the budget will be reviewed on a line-by-line basis. During this time, proposals may be made but no discussion shall take place. In the event of conflicting proposals, approval voting shall be used to determine the order in which the proposals shall be voted on. The Student Treasurer shall mark up the budget in accordance with standard procedures of the SFC as Senate’s proposals are voted upon.
Return of the Budget to the Student Finance Committee: Following the Senate plenary in which a new allocation decision is reached, the Student Treasurer shall send the marked up budget to all members of the SFC before the end of the day of the additional Plenary session. The SFC will then have until 4:00 PM on the day of the next regularly scheduled Plenary Session to review the budget created by Senate, review the minutes of the additional plenary session, and create any budget recommendations. Recommendations will not be accepted late. If the SFC decides to present any budget recommendations Senate will be allowed to do one of the following:
To accept the first allocation made by SFC, during the annual allocation process.
To maintain to decision made by Senate during the appeal plenary session.
To accept a new allocation, determined during the review session.
In the subsequent plenary Session, Senate will review SFC’s recommendation, and will make a final decision concerning the budget allocation. There are two options for this decision:
To accept the recommendation of the SFC
To maintain the allocation made during the appeal plenary session.
As with all other parts of this process, the Senate-elected SFC Co-Chair, the Chartering Liaison, and any senator with an affiliation with either the SFC or the appealing organization may not participate in Senate’s vote on this matter.
Notes: -Organizations may only appeal their annual budget once per annual budget. -The rules governing the appeal process must appear in the bylaws of both the SFC and the Student Senate. As such, revisions to this process may only be made by the mutual consent of both the SFC and the Student Senate, in accordance with the processes for bylaw revisions of each organization.