General Studies Lounge

Co-sponsorship application for event:

Amount requested: $300

I am applying for co-sponsorship on behalf of the Ballroom Dance Club.
The event it the "Big Apple Dancesport Challenge", the ballroom
competition at Columbia University.  GS students are an important part of our club and we hope
GSSC can continue to support our event.  Thank you for your
consideration.

Co-Sponsorship reply:

The co-sponsorship application for the
Columbia Ballroom Dance Club's event was approved for a $210
co-sponsorship. I know this is not what was requested
and the main reason for this is our tight budget.  The GSSC works on a
very
constrained budget, and our entire budget for co-sponsorship
this Fall semester is $1,000. Tonight we voted to give your club a
fifth of this budget for your event. We awarded you this because we
think you are planning a great event and are thankful to you for
reaching out and including so many GS students in your club.

The Student Government Security and Facilities Fund
GSSC Vote
7th October 2008

What are these funds?

The
Student Government Facilities Fund is a front-end payment to cover
student group expenses for events outside Lerner Hall. It was
established in 2004 by CCSC, ESC and GSSC. The fund is a resource to
encourage a vibrant campus life. It is available to all recognized
undergraduate organisations on the Morningside Campus.
The Facilities Fund covers:

•    Custodial Assistance
•    Ground Assistance
•    Labor Assistance
•    Carpentry Assistance
•    Electrical and Plumbing Assistance

The
Student Government Securities Fund is a front-end payment to cover
student group security expenses for events on Morningside Campus. It
was established in 2004 by CCSC, ESC and GSSC. The fund is a resource
to encourage a vibrant campus life. It is available to all recognized
undergraduate organisations on the Morningside Campus. This fund covers
the cost of the presence of uniformed CU security officers at a student
on Morningside Campus. The security fund is overseen by the Office of
Student Development and Activities.

GSSC 2007-8 contribution, after overdraft (in ratio where CCSC 2.95/ESC 1.00/ GSSC 0.70):

Securities: $14,050.77
Facilities: $18,282.89
Total: $32,333.66

GSSC 2008-9 contribution (in ratio where CCSC 2.95/ESC 1.00/ GSSC 0.70):

Securities: $14,753.00
Facilities: $19,625.00
Total: $34,378.00

Budget for 2008 GSSC Retreat:

Amount approved by GSSC on 09/23/2008: $8,000

Total for retreat: $7,028.19

Breakdown of budget for retreat

• Public Transportation roundtrip to Montauk: $507.00
• Accomodation Montauk: $4,205.77
• Food: $2,315.42

Budget for 2007 GSSC Retreat:

Total: $7,797.98

Breakdown:

• Dynamic Outdoors (food, accomodation and transport): $7,220.00 
• Photocopying/Supplie: $577.98

Dear Student Council,

Lisa Fishenfeld, our Social Chair has been working to create an Orientation party for General Studies students. Like all expenditures over $200 this will require a council vote. As we are not yet in session that vote will happen over email.

I strongly support her efforts to create a great event to meet new students and reconnect with continuing students and am very happy about this dollar amount and how it focuses on food and venue over alcohol, something that I plan on making a theme for future expenditures.

There is no better person to explain the details of this expenditure than Lisa herself, so I have included the full details below, however, here is what I would like you to consider and vote on:

Support Orientation week with a GSSC sponsored social that funds rental of a venue and providing food while saving substantial funds by not subsidizing alcohol for a total allocation from the General Studies Student Council Budget of $5600, which as Lisa notes, is a substantial savings on last year's Orientation spending.

Like all email votes we do as council send your 'Yay' or 'Nay' vote to Michael Rain, VP of Policy (mr2593@columbia.edu). He will tally them and in accordance to the constitution announce the result.

One final note: Get your friends in GS out to this event! It will be exactly as fun as the number of our GS peers arrive to reunite ahead of the coming academic year. I hope I see all of you that are in town there.

Thanks and let me know if you have any questions,

Brody Berg

Details From Lisa:

As it stands, it costs $7000 to buy out Amsterdam Restaurant and Tapas Lounge (AmCaf). This means $7000 needs to be spent by our party during the two-hour period (not including tips). I will try to negotiate it down; I've already set the stage for that. According to our preferred vendor list, we get a 20% discount over $300; I will try to leverage that to advocate a buy out price of $5600.

Minutes by Brody Berg from start to 8:30, Nicolle Rountree from 8:30 to finish.
START Notes by Brody Berg
Niko: Welcome to the Finance Town Hall. What we're going to be covering is Keith Hightower giving a historical overview of the budget and how student life fees have been run in the past. With a view toward solutions.
Nancy: Detailed rules for the question and answer sessions. First is presentation, no questions. Don't interrupt now or during questions, it's rude and Brody is typing minutes which is tough when multiple people speak.
Keith: Thanks for coming out everybody. At the end of last year we decided to have transparency about the budget and share with the student body. This week we added the information you'll see tonight on the gslounge.com/finance website and we handed out budget copies as well.
Student Life fees: $367 fee that comes out of tuition. It's a general studies fee, CC and SEAS pay $467 for student life. Student life fees pay for Dodge Fitness, Lerner, GS Lounge, printing, Libraries, Email. Left over is $78.70.
Beginning of this year GSSC had $198k. We split it into two parts, $99k per semester. At the end of Fall semester we were left with $1,131.
The Budget was approved by the GSSC during the Fall semester. Any questions?
Ashley: I have a question
Niko: Keith, let's do questions at the end
Keith: Just browse through and we'll do questions at the end
So for Spring we have $100k for gross revenue, $86k encumbered - Senior Pub, The Gala, Senior events.
What's happened this year is that we have a lot less money available to us. i want to show you what has happened.
2005-06 $163k
06-07: $213k
07-08: 198k
but, the club expenses payments went up dramatically.
06-07 gala: $19k, seniors: $15,5k
07-08 gala: 11,5, seniors: ?
Bottom Line: $39k less available for GSSC student life programming

GSSC Minutes for 2/16/2008

Financial Clarification Meeting

attendance: karly curcio, allen settle, monique long, raul dutch wikkeling, niko cunningham, susannah karlsson, nicolle rountree, gabrielle breen, joel pichardo, jake matilsky, helena lellis, elie collie, dave minchin, brody berg, keith hightower, william melendez, aaron j. lewis.

Keith: this is informal, this why we're having visitors.

Why don't we ask Jake what his things are.

Jake: a) finance stuff so we're all on the same page going into town hall, b) there are some constitutional concerns. objective: hash it all out regarding those two points. having you in the room lets us know whats going on in that regard. Everyone can speak, everyone's frustrations are heard.

Elie: make sure everything is clarified.

Brody: documents online

Keith: Make sure everyone understands the state of our budget and what our options are.

William: here to learn, know what's going on. absorb it all

Evan Madeo: I am very new, here to listen/learn and contribute something.

Karly: learn to play postion

Allen: to be constructive in our presentation to the GS student body, in a deliberative and calm way

Monique: If we can agree that these documents can go online that would go a long way to belay peopls concerns and be a great step toward transparency.

Brody: I volunteer to do whatever technical work regarding that.

Raul: I want to get it very business like, I am the oldest person here. I don't have time for bickering. Clear and concise.

Niko: need a concise view of how semester has gone.

Helena: Ask questions, here answers

Susannah: here because i was asked to be, here to offer history, context and perspective

Nicolle: here to know what to communicate

Gabriell: here because I was asked to be, backing Jake, just because budgetary constraints are here, shouldn't have less programming, representing Chad Miller regarding that.