If we learned anything about the GUSA Senate this Monday night it’s that they have a USPS-like devotion to braving the elements.  As the rest of the school buckled down for our second-consecutive snow day, the Senate reaffirmed that neither snow nor gloom of night would interfere with its commitment to legislating.

And legislate it did, slogging through a two-hour discussion before passing the controversial Act to Modify the By-laws to Improve Student Activities Funding by a vote of 19 to four.  The bill will strip advisory boards of their votes on allocating the Student Activities Fee, giving control of the process to GUSA’s Finance and Appropriations Committee.

The meeting opened with a period of public comment on the bill.  The three student who spoke all expressed opposition to the changes.  Nick Calta (COL ‘10), Chair of the Advisory Board for Club Sports, cautioned that the bill would create “the potential for really wide fluctuations in funding”; a representative from the Center for Social Justice decried the adversarial tone of the debate and urged senators to think about “what kind of leadership this legislation is promoting”; and former GUSA Senator and current GUSA Presidential Candidate Matt Wagner (SFS ‘11) warned that it would be “a huge mistake” to pass the bill.

After a quick executive briefing—in which GUSA President Calen Angert (MSB ‘11), when asked by a Senator about his stance, said he “fully endorsed” the bill—the act’s co-sponsors, Senators Nick Troiano (COL ‘11, Village A: A-D) and Colton Malkerson (COL ‘13, Harbin 2-5), gave their spiel about bill, explaining what exactly it would change and why they believe it is necessary.

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In response to the legislation to reform the Funding Board that the Georgetown University Student Association will soon consider, Student Activity Commission Chair Ethel Amponsah (NHS ‘11) has sent the letter reproduced below to student club leaders. In it, she emphasizes that there is legislation to eliminate the votes Advisory Board chairs who sit on the Funding Board have, including the SAC Chair, and her feeling that the six reforms GUSA has suggested were based on misconceptions. She promises to fight the proposed changes.

“By eliminating our votes, GUSA will … remove your representation as student organizations on the Funding Board, thereby limiting our opportunity to participate in the process of distributing the Student Activities Fee in an equitable manner.

“GUSA states that this legislation is based upon its 6 recommendations presented to all of the Advisory Boards. I have responded to these arbitrary recommendations, noting various errors within the document and statements made based on rumors,” she writes.

“Please know that we will do everything possible to prevent changes to the voting structure of the Funding Board.” (Disclosure: Amponsah and I participated in an After School Kids group together our freshman year).

Student club members’ responses to the host of club funding reforms GUSA began pushing for in the fall, including the 6 reforms Amponsah references, have been a mixed bag, but several advisory board chairs sitting on the Funding Board have balked at GUSA’s proposal to strip them of their votes.

At the same time, many club leaders have expressed their displeasure with SAC’s funding process and Amponsah’s letter itself, with some of the club leaders who forwarded Amponsah’s e-mail to Vox saying her letter used scare tactics. Amponsah has not yet responded to requests for comment about these characterizations, but we’ll update this post with her response when she does.

Update 10:47 a.m. January 29: Amponsah has responded by e-mail, “The letter I wrote to student organizations is in no way a fear tactic.  I believe in informing students about changes in policy or procedure that may directly affect their organizations, not scaring them.”

See the full letter after the jump!

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