During the last town hall meeting of the fall semester, the Grand Rapids Community College Student Government approved a $7,150 allocation request to send two students from the Gamma Theta Upsilon International Geographic Honor Society (GTU) to Honolulu, Hawaii for the 2024 Association of American Geographers (AAG) Conference. This allocation request totaled nearly 50% of the remaining allocation budget Student Government has left to fund all other student organization projects and events until next fall.
After being denied an allocation of $13,875 during the previous meeting, GTU president Sandra Johnson revised her allocation request and prepared a list of arguments why she and her colleague should attend this event rather than wait until the 2025 AAG Conference, which will be held in Detroit.
“Why not wait? Imagine if you were to tell an athlete to wait a year for their competition to do the thing they have been training to do,” Johnson said at the Dec. 11 meeting. “It’s important that GRCC maintains a consistent image at these conferences because we are known for it.”
This conference will feature several sessions both in-person and online featuring Hawaiian speakers and workshops to learn more about the ecologies, history and cultures of Hawaii. Participants will also be able to meet with other students, professors and geographers from around the country.
Johnson also stated it is important that GTU attend this conference because she will no longer attend GRCC in 2025.
When asked about any fundraising opportunities to help aid their trip, she stated that GTU keeps fundraising projects primarily for their CAMFED fund which helps provide scholarships for the education of girls in Sub-Saharan Africa.
“It’s typically that fundraiser is done for CAMFED which the GTU supports. They raise funds and then they give that money to CAMFED but because the GTU is fundraising for it we can use those funds. However, we usually donate them to CAMFED,” Johnson said. “We would like to continue donating to CAMFED and not have to use those funds if at all possible.”
Student Government Communications Director Nicholas Thomasma asked if Johnson had contacted the Office of Diversity Equity and Inclusion (ODEI) after they had sent 11 students from SACNAS to a conference in Arizona. Johnson stated that she did not.
Thomasma explained that there are several ways to help finance this trip outside of the Student Activities Fee Budget. GRCC students pay this fee when they register for classes each semester.
“I see the value of the conferences as well but I will also say that I voted no on this one for the same reason that it was a large request,” said Thomasma. “That’s a large amount to be taken out of the campus activities fee.”
Johnson questioned why there isn’t more money in the budget due to the large number of clubs at GRCC. Thomasma explained that the Student Government is looking into the idea of evening out the student activities fee for all students, which was previously stated at their last meeting.
“I think we are all on the same accord,” said Student Government President Alex Miranda. “We want to be able to send you guys to this conference so that you guys can experience it and for GRCC pride and GRCC representation around the nation but the only downside is the price.”
After a discussion of what were the set rules of allocation requests and if they could or could not distribute unused funds after being allocated, Student Government Advisor and the Assistant Director for Student Life, Ashley Fox stepped in stating that the conversation was becoming very confusing.
“I think this is getting muddy. I think we should vote with the funding that is presented ($7,150). Otherwise, this is too much else in writing or not in writing, and it’s gray,” Fox said.“It sounds like there’s enough disagreement but agreement, and to be consistent I think we should act out of consistency and just vote with what’s on the table.”
The allocation was approved, 4-3. Johnson stated she would still look into fundraising and how to help finance herself and her colleague’s trip to Honolulu and left shortly after the discussion ended.
At the same meeting, Student Government approved $100 for the Rotary Act Club to host a two-day pop-up clothes drive event which took place on Dec. 19. A $105 allocation request from the Yoga Club was denied due to both the Yoga Club and Student Government Vice President Micheal Zazzo not in attendance.
This leaves the student activities fee budget at $7,513 for all student organizations until the beginning of the 2024 fall semester. The first bi-weekly meeting of the year will take place on Monday, Jan. 15 in Raleigh J. Finkelstein Hall room 108/109 from noon – 2 p.m.
