Due to inconsistencies with SEB’s request for $1,800 to pay for 100 copies of Ryan Leaf's book, the ASWSU Senate held a special session Friday morning to reevaluate their ruling on granting the funds.
SEB’s request said if they did not receive the money, they would not be able to provide the free books for WSU students, District 6 Sen. Joey Pacific said.
“I call to attention that the Student Entertainment Board already ordered posters that state the first 100 students will receive books prior to our meeting,” Pacific said. “Pro Tempore (Derrick) Skaug states that Brian Logan, director of the Student Entertainment Board, told him that if the Student Entertainment Board did not get the funding from the senate, the money would have come from another line item.”
These two statements are contradictory, which is the main reason the meeting was called, he said.
District 10 Sen. Alex Smith said SEB's request for funding was placed in his personal inbox instead of the funding request inbox, which delayed the program's request process.
"That information was current when it was handed in and getting closer to the deadline, I can understand SEB's need to go ahead and find an additional source for funding,” he said. “So I think we can't simply just put that aside and say they contradicted themselves ... I think that to simply recall the funding would be a bad move on our part. I don't want us to be that kid that takes his ball and goes home."
He suggested they proceed as planned by allowing SEB to use the funding and hold a budget hearing at a later date to come up with a solution to smooth over the transaction.
"That way we look good, SEB looks good and the event goes on," Smith said. "We can iron this out as a senate with some credibility instead of just pulling the funding out right here, right now."
Logan said he acknowledged that it was SEB's fault and would understand if the senate took the money back, but it was not his intention to mislead anyone.
While SEB members hoped ASWSU would approve the request, they planned to take the money from the Springfest budget if they were denied, Logan said.
"When we said we didn't have the money and we wouldn't be able to get the books, that was true for the Homecoming budget,” he said. “After you take out the fees to pay for speakers and microphones and all the different parts, the Homecoming budget shrinks down to about $4,500. $4,500, like I said, is extremely little money."
Also, the books will not cost the whole $1,800 as originally stated in the request, he said. They were able to negotiate an even lower discount of 50 percent off the cover price, which is $13 per book, so the total will be about $1,450.
While some senators voiced interest in reconsidering the vote, others wanted to push forward.
Skaug said he would prefer to reconsider the vote.
"When we made that motion, we voted on inaccurate information,” he said. “For our integrity as a senate, we need to say when we vote on things that we need to have the information up front from the committee."
District 9 Sen. Charlie Hammerich disagreed with reconsidering the motion.
"We were just as much at fault as SEB was with some of the miscommunication," he said. "Knowing that, if we reconsider, it would look really bad on us."
District 1 Sen. Brenna Stroup said she disagreed with Hammerich and preferred not to spend that much money.
“I still think this is a lot of money to spend, especially for a group that has a lot more money than a lot of other groups have,"Stroup said.
Admitting the mistake and fixing it would make the ASWSU senate look good, she said.
Only someone on the prevailing side, the side that voted in favor of approving the request, can make a motion to reconsider the funding. No one from the prevailing side chose to do so.
Smith moved to hold a budget committee hearing to evaluate the funding.
The majority of the senate initially voted down the motion.
Smith moved to adjourn the meeting and take no action. This was also voted down.
After further consideration, District 1 Sen. James Cockburn motioned to reconsider the budget hearing. The motion passed. The Budget Committee hearing will be held at 7 p.m. on Monday in CUB 204.
"I think that it would have been more appropriate to reconsider the motion with the new information, but the budget hearing is an alternative,"Skaug said."I would rather have that than nothing. Apparently, no one from the prevailing side was willing to make that motion. So at least we'll have the budget hearing."
