The budget council presented senators with estimated allocations for the 2025 fiscal year during Wednesday’s ASWSU meeting.
Budget council chair Cleofa Vargas presented senators with this fiscal year’s approved allocation of $364,960 and showed a breakdown for the requests of ASWSU committees for funding next year, as well as the figures approved by the budget council.
Committees have requested a total of $436,431 for FY25, Vargas said. The budget council has approved a total budget of $377,575.
The allocations will need to be approved by S&A before they can be confirmed for the 2025 fiscal year, said Vice President Maccabee Werndorf.
Senators also heard progress updates from Chief of Staff Bailey Berger, who said the diversity department has been working closely with the ASWSU Ku-Ah-Mah and the ASWSU Native American Women’s Association to sponsor t-shirts for the annual Pah-Loots-Puu Powwow in March.
Berger said she is working closely with Senator LillyAnn Vo to plan a collaboration between ASWSU and the Cougar Food Pantry.
Berger said she met with representatives from the office of compliance and civil rights in order to prepare for sexual assault awareness week next week. She will be posting more information about the Compliance and Civil Rights office on the during sexual assault awareness week.
Community Affairs Director Sebastian Sanders said he is hoping to hold another joint meeting with Pullman City Council sometime this semester.
“I really want to make this a more involved experience,” he said. “At the last meeting, it was kind of at the end of the [ASWSU] meeting and there wasn’t a lot of dialogue.”
He said he hopes that the joint meetings can continue on a semesterly basis and asked the senators to think about what questions they might want to ask council members at the meeting.
“Try to think of things that you actually want to ask council members,” Sanders said. “Keep in mind there were a couple new city council members that were elected, there’s a brand new mayor and the downtown renovation project is going on too.”
Sanders said he wants the meeting to be similar to a town hall event and an opportunity for anyone who has questions about the city of Pullman to ask those questions of elected officials.
He is planning on helping a student expand on an event later this semester known as Green Day, which will be an opportunity for students to focus on their mental health and participate in carnival-style games and activities, Sanders said.
Senators also passed Bill 53-32, which was authored by Senator Pro Tempore Tania Henriques and suggested restructural changes to a section of the bylaws regarding the duties of the department of diversity affairs. The bill was unanimously approved.
Werndorf reminded senators that elections week is next week and requested them to encourage their friends and peers to vote, as 20% of the student body vote will be required to approve the Chinook fee referendum.
ASWSU will be holding a Q&A session in place of a general debate on Thursday from 5-6 p.m. in the CUB 204, Werndorf said.
ASWSU meets at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday in CUB 204.
