UA budget increases SAC and Hey Day funds

After an unusually long budget season, the Undergraduate Assembly passed the budget for the 2014-15 academic year at its meeting on Sunday night.

The finalized budget saw increases in funding to the Student Activities Council and the sophomore, junior, senior class boards, while the freshman class board’s funding did not change.

SAC’s budget allocation increased by 6.94 percent in total, bringing its funds to  $1,144,003.96 from  $1,069,795, similar to last year’s  6.87% increase in SAC funding.

The senior class board’s budget rose by 5 percent to $ 23,000 and the junior class budget increased by 11% percent to $ 17,200 to account in part for added Hey Day funds.

Making its first appearance on the budget list, UA Steering was apportioned $250.

The budget passed unanimously.

The UA also debated a contingency request by the Medical Emergency Response Team for funding for a new automated external defibrillator, an essential piece of medical equipment used to resuscitate victims of heart attacks and other such maladies, to replace a broken one.

College junior Tamara Snow, MERT’s administrative director, spoke on behalf of MERT at the meeting. She said that the piece of equipment was not accounted for in MERT’s original budget because AEDs do not typically break. The defibrillator would cost $1950.

“We need to keep our students safe,” Snow said.

Ultimately, the UA voted to grant MERT the funds.

With elections underway, the UA is nearing a turnover of membership. Members gave rounds of applause to UA President and College senior Abe Sutton, UA Vice President Gabe Delaney and UA Treasurer and Wharton senior Tiffany Zhu after their respective reports.

Correction: This article was edited to reflect that SAC's budget increased by  6.94 percent, not 10.39 percent this year and increased 6.87 percent last year. It was also edited to show that the junior class increased by 4 percent and the freshman class board budget did not change. 

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