By Jake Berg / Delta Staff Writer

The Missouri Valley College Student Government Association’s budget was cut short in the middle of spring semester, causing SGA to be unable to sponsor any events after February.

“I have always been a firm believer in SGA seeing as it is the way my sorority has gotten funding for events that we have had on campus such as the lip sync battle,” said SGA senate member, Joi Reynolds. “It is terrible that the budget was cut in the middle of the semester because that is taking money away from organizations that could use it to host amazing events.”

In addition to funding complications, an organization’s event goes through a gauntlet to get approved.

First the event is proposed and presented to SGA. Once SGA members approve the event it needs to be approved by the dean of students. And that is where things get complicated.

“For every event, each organization needs to fill a proposal and present their request in front of SGA members,” said SGA President Lea Filali.
“They need to explain all the details about their event, why they want to do it, how it would benefit the school, and how much they are asking for. Once a proposal is submitted, and a member of the organization has been actively coming to SGA meeting, then the proposal is reviewed at a meeting. At that meeting, one member of the organization needs to stand up and present it in front of SGA members. SGA members get to vote on the proposal, and the majority wins. As the president I cannot vote, I am only there to conduct the voting. If the proposal is approved, then the money they have requested will go to their account from the SGA funding.”

According to Filali, SGA has helped a multitude of organizations on campus during the fall semester and the beginning of spring semester.

SGA financially assisted the Polynesian Club for their dance on homecoming, the Art Club for their music and paint night, the Nonprofit Leadership Alliance for their conference to Orlando, the Honors program for their conference in Boston, the international club for their international fair, Alpha Chi for their upcoming conference in Cleveland, the Accounting Business Society for their trick or treat event on the square, Theta Phi Alpha for their Lip Sync Battle event, and Black Student Union for their Wild and Out event.

“For every event, each organization needs to fill a proposal and present their request in front of SGA members,” said Filali. “They need to explain all the details about their event, why they want to do it, how it would benefit the school, and how much they are asking for. Once a proposal is submitted, and a member of the organization has been actively coming to SGA meeting, then the proposal is reviewed at a meeting. At that meeting, one member of the organization needs to stand up and present it in front of SGA members. SGA members get to vote on the proposal, and the majority wins. As the president I cannot vote, I am only there to conduct the voting. If the proposal is approved, then the money they have requested will go to their account from the SGA funding.”

As stated by Filali, the budget at the beginning of the 2018/2019 school year was $7,000 per semester, creating a $14,000 budget for the entire year.

“The budget was first assigned to be $14,000 for the academic year,” said Filali. “As far as I know, Missouri Valley College got a new CFO that rearranged the budget for the rest of the semester. Student Government Association was still able to help many organizations on campus during the Fall semester and beginning of Spring semester. All the money was put into good use around our campus through various activities.”

Although members of SGA claim the budget was cut, Vice President Heath Morgan says otherwise.

“It has nothing to do with the new CFO,” said Morgan. “I think what the college tries to do is do $5 per student for the SGA budget, so I’m not necessarily so sure that the budget wasn’t right.”

According to Missouri Valley Registrar, MVC had 1,459 students in the fall and 1,260 students enrolled this spring. Meaning if the SGA budget was supposed to be roughly $5 per student the SGA budget would be somewhere between $6,300 and $7,295.