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The DU undergraduate student government (USG) passed the fiscal year 2012 student activity fee budget last Tuesday in a unanimous vote.
In this new budget, USG has allocated $20,000 for the creation of class councils, groups of students who will be working with USG to foster Pioneer and class pride, according to Jim Francescon, the current president of USG.
Each council will receive $5,000 to be used on what it sees fit. This could be class t-shirts or mixers, like the senior and junior class socials that were held earlier this month, Francescon said.
“USG has increased tremendously around campus,” said Francescon, a senior. “This is the most active I’ve seen USG since I’ve been on campus.”
USG also has cut the Greek Life budget by 21 percent and increased the budget for the DU Programming Board (DUPB) by almost 17 percent for the upcoming school year.
Francescon established these changes, which affect how USG allocates funds from the student activity fee and sustainability fee, a total of nearly $1.5 million.
The allocations, however, will not go into effect until the next USG president starts his or her term.
Francescon said he cut Greek Life funding, from $38,000 to $30,000, because Greek Life already receives funds from each chapter in the form of $12 per member per quarter.
“I’m hoping for co-programming between Greek Life and DUPB,” Francescon said.
Francescon also cut funding for the USG executive scholarship, which provided the USG president, vice president and president pro-tempore with $500 quarterly for the purchase of textbooks. It was established last year by then-president Antoine Perreta.
Francescon said he cut the executive scholarship from USG allocations because it will now be institutionalized – meaning it will be funded by DU’s Student Life division, not USG.
The budget for the 2012 fiscal year has increased funding for the Athletic Ticket Initiative almost $2,000 – from $67,492 to $69,200 – to continue to provide students tickets to the different sporting events. The new budget also allocates $10,000 for the construction of basketball courts at the south end of Centennial Halls.
Francescon has also allocated some of the funding for Sustainable DU, which provides the DU Nalgene water bottles and eCubes in the walk-in refrigerators, to pay for the RTD passes students receive annually. These passes make it possible for students to use their IDs on Denver regional transit, like the Denver RTD light rail and bus system, as tickets.
He decreased funding almost 18 percent, from $107,992 to $88,576.
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