At the Jan. 25 senate meeting, SGA passed a bill allocating $19,838 for the annual spring Roar Daze festival.
Roar Daze is a week-long festival that has several events hosted by multicultural clubs. The event funds, which come from the Carry Forward Fund, will be divided between clubs to cover the expenses for the events, but they will have to go through BAC to be approved.
Roar Daze will take place from April 10-15 and include events that showcase diversity with Journey to Africa, Fusion, La Fiesta and Holi.
Several senators felt that Roar Daze was important because of the large turnout last year and the community aspect of the events.
“Roar Daze is very important for all the multicultural clubs on campus to have a platform to express their values and traditions and culture,” Senator of Multicultural Affairs Ben Moses said.
“I participated in Roar Daze last year, and it’s a really great opportunity to build community amongst campus,” Senator-at-Large Emmanuella Appiah said.
Moses noted that budget concerns have affected the amount of funding allocated to the festival. “We’ve actually cut the funding by nearly $1,000, so this is the lowest they’ve received in a few years,” he said.
The rising budget concerns stem from low funding in the Student Activities Fee, SGA’s primary source of funds that is used to pay for operating costs and funding requests submitted by student organizations.
At the Oct. 5 SGA meeting last semester, Student Body Vice President Aidan Clark explained the remaining funds from the SAF cannot sustain the current rate of SGA spending, causing the senate to tap into the Carry Forward Fund, which is reserve money that consists of unspent SAF funds.
SGA Co-Advisor Noelle San Souci will be taking on the role as SGA’s marketing and office manager. She said in an email that by taking on the role, $8,000 can go back into SGA’s budget to provide funding for future events and programs.
After the funding for Roar Daze and the reallocation of funds, San Souci said in the email there is around $26,000 left in Carry Forward. At the start of the semester, there was $38,059.70. The Carry Forward Fund is the only way outside of the BAC that the senate can fund bills.
“We will want to try and keep about $10,000 of that in reserves for ‘just-in-case’ situations,” she wrote.
Clubs who are part of Roar Daze will be able to obtain more funding through the normal BAC process. Other clubs can join the Roar Daze festival by applying through BAC.
In other news:
- The 2024 election policy has been ratified.
- Associate Chief Justice Savoy Garey mentioned that AAC and the Judicial Board are reviewing the minutes for the 2023 academic year to ensure they are accurate before being archived.
- There will be an informational meeting about the election on Feb. 9 at 6 p.m. in UC 122.
- There will be a mandatory candidate meeting on Feb. 12 at 6 p.m. in UC 303.
Photo via The Scribe Archives.