Duke Student Government senators approved the Student Organization Finance Committee 2021-2022 annual budget after conducting a second reading at their Wednesday night meeting.
Out of the $927,514.59 in funding requested, SOFC approved $403,676.26. This was a few thousand dollars lower than the amount recommended during the first reading of the budget at the previous meeting.
SOFC Chair Drew Flanagan, a sophomore, and SOFC Executive Vice Chair Ahana Sen, a junior, led the second reading, and began with a question of funding about the musical theater group Hoof ‘n’ Horn.
The Senate debated whether the group should receive money to pay for the rights to musicals if they charge Duke students ticket fare to attend their performances. They decided to approve the funding with the stipulation that the organization could not charge students for the show.
Senators then went over revisions that they made to the budget based on Senate observations from last week’s meeting. These revisions included removing funding for Chronicle advertisements for the Duke Consulting Club, adjusting national tournament funding for the Duke Moot Court and removing funding for clothing for Duke’s Standard magazine.
Sen then addressed other observations that Senate members had about the budget last week that were left unchanged in the second reading. These included transportation funding for the Duke Academy of Model Aeronautics, background check funding for the Duke Student Collaborative on Health Policy and medication funding for Duke EMS.
Flanagan then stated each group receiving funding’s name. Junior Ramya Ginjupalli, DSG executive vice president-elect, asked whether groups that were not on the list but desired annual budget funding had to go through a separate process to receive funding.
Flanagan responded that groups not on the list would have to apply in April 2022 since the annual budget is only done in one batch yearly. He stated that the SOFC was “super proactive about outreach” and emailed every group three times to remind them about annual budget proceedings.
He additionally noted that new groups that join the DSG ecosystem have a deadline of March 1 to access annual budget funding.
Before voting began, Flanagan clarified that any group is allowed to appeal funding decisions through the Senate financial oversight and appeals committee, and that the appeal form will be available throughout the summer.
In other business
The Senate recognized the Duke Pro-Life Club and chartered two other student groups.
First-year Nicole Rosenzweig was confirmed as the chair of the Mental Health Caucus, while sophomore Hana Hendi was confirmed as the co-chair of the Interfaith Caucus and sophomore Swetha Rajagopal was confirmed as the chair of the Disability Caucus.
After a second reading, the First Generation Low-Income Caucus and the Interfaith Caucus By-Laws were approved. Ginjupalli and Executive Vice President Dina Qiryaqoz, a junior, conducted the first reading of the Duke Student Government Research Team by-laws. Qiryaqoz and senior Aly Diaz, vice president for Durham Regional Affairs, conducted the first reading of the senate by-laws.
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Ayra Charania is a Trinity junior and a senior editor of The Chronicle's 118th volume.