Student Senate opposed a bill Monday night that would allocate $2,500 to Activities and Programs for a $10,000 renewal contract with OrgSync software.

OrgSync, as described in the bill, is software that provides tools for administrative organizations. With the software, Activities and Programs are able to manage more than 250 student organizations; Housing and Residence Life can track learning outcome achievements of Resident Assistants through it as well.

Some senators who oppose the software argued that it is too expensive, saying other tools are available for a cheaper or, in some cases free, cost.

“There are ways of … perfectly … communicating with your members of your organization in a way that is absolutely free,” said Student Senator April Ross, who mentioned the forensics team uses Google for internal communication instead.

Academic Affairs Director Mark Morgan said $6,250 out of the $10,000 contract has already been allocated through segregated fees, which Student Senate oversees. He added that Housing and Residence Life, which is allocating $1,250, should donate more.

“The question is if we really have to fund another $2,500,” Morgan said during the meeting.

Opposing Morgan’s statement, Environmental Endeavors Director Ben Ponkratz said OrgSync is effective for document sharing, in addition to tracking and accessing projects.
“We do things (with OrgSync) that we wouldn’t be able to do with another software,” Ponkratz said.

Organizations Director Jessi Van Natta agreed with Ponkratz and said that a lot of miscommunication would decrease if students would all use the same tool.

With $6,250 already allocated to OrgSync, funding would need to come from other organizations to be able to pay for the $10,000 annual contract, which ends January 2012.