Student senate members were concerned when a bill for the Coaches Corner project to receive $1,000, despite a lack of formal budget request, was passed.
Andy Walsh, traditions committee co-chair, has been working on the Coaches Corner project. According to Walsh, the reason a formal budget request was not submitted was due to a lack of concrete information about where the money would be going.
Sam Dennis, the other traditions committee co-chair, said that the reason there was no formal budget written was due to the fact that there was the possibility of a lot of variation in how the money would actually be used for advertising.
“There is a lot of variability with what we’re spending money on but we are handling it in a fiscally responsible way,” Dennis said.
According to Walsh, the $1,000 will be going towards advertising and marketing for the Coaches Corner project. He and Dennis want to raise $170,000 for the project through private donations.
Walsh said that while the money was planned to be used strictly for advertising, it was impossible to tell exactly what types of advertising and how much money would go towards each section at the time the bill was submitted. He said it would be “100% less accurate” to write the budget without hearing more information from athletics.
“Unfortunately, when you’re dealing with donors like this, Harris Teeter poster boards won’t cut it. You need proper advertising,” Walsh said.
Buddy Bryson, student body treasurer, said that he, Walsh and Dennis had spoken extensively about the project before it was put before Senate. Ideas and plans for how the money would be used were discussed before the bill was written.
“There was no formal budget, that’s correct, but I spoke with [Walsh and Dennis] numerous times to discuss how to use funds,” Bryson said.
Though the bill was passed granting the project the money, a formal request must go through Bryson and an advisor before it can actually be put to use. The reason a formal budget was not required, according to Bryson, was because student government does not fall under the normal appropriations process and this was a special project.
“None of the money can be touched without formal requests being made. We want to make sure money is used correctly and responsibly,” Bryson said.
Emerson Barker, student senator for CHASS juniors, said that most of the senate concerns that were raised were about the lack of formal budget as well as the effects a lack of budget could have on how students view the senate.
“We were concerned that we didn’t know where the money was going and that it would set a double standard for student government getting money,” Barker said.
Walsh said that the senators who were upset did not do a good job of researching the project and understanding the intent of the bill. He and Dennis expected full support from senate after speaking with the financial committee and were surprised when senators reacted unfavorably towards the bill, according to Walsh.
“I don’t think they were doing their jobs correctly. It looks bad if the financial committee supports something and then they suddenly don’t support it because they are worried about looking bad. It all comes down to a lack of research,” Walsh said.
Despite some issues with the bill in senate, it was ultimately passed. Coaches Corner will continue to work on advertising and gaining donations for the project, according to Walsh.
