In a unanimous decision, Student Senate voted in favor of adopting the 2010-2011 organized activities budget of just over $3.8 million.

The organized activities budget is the amount of money allocated to different organizations on campus after they make requests for how much money they need. The requests are first reviewed by the Finance Commission, who then present their suggestions to Student Senate for their approval.

Senators agreed on nearly all allocations, with the only concerns being directed at a $10,000 allocation to Student Heath Services for an emergency fund.

Finance Commission Director Dylan Jambrek said the money could be used in case of an emergency in which SHS would need more funds. The idea was to give them their own emergency fund so that they would not have to go into the general emergency fund, he said.

Sen. Eric Meyers proposed an amendment to remove the $10,000 emergency fund because he thought it was like writing SHS a blank check.

“I felt that it was important that students have control over the money they are spending, and by taking that $10,000 away, we have that control,” Meyer said. “I didn’t distrust them using the $10,000 by any means.”

Sen. Jacob Kampen thought that allocating an organization more than they request sends a bad message to other organizations. He added that if SHS does need emergency funds, different channels can be gone through to acquire them.

Sen. Sarah Tweedale said that SHS has been fiscally responsible in the past and that allocating the money now will avoid having to do it in the future.

“In the event of an emergency, should they need the extra money, it’s just going to create more red tape to go through,” Tweedale said.

The amendment passed 19-3 with one abstention.

All other pieces of the budget remained unchanged.

Organized activities fees will now increase by $65 to compensate for the boost in funds needed next year.