Student Senate voted to let the wind out of Alan Vojtech’ssails Tuesday when they denied funding to the Sailing Club’scamping skills retreat.
The club, of which Vojtech is the president, requested $2,870 topay for part of a houseboat rental for its weekend on Lake Texoma.According to documents submitted to the Senate AppropriationsCommittee, the group planned to spend the weekend studying windtheory and practicing sailing on one of its own boats. They askedfor the money to rent a houseboat so that they could quickly getashore in case of an emergency.
The request was one of four put before the body during themeeting in which the regular rules regarding appropriations weresuspended because of time limitations. Usually, the appropriationscommittee presents a recommendation on all requests a week beforethe Senate votes on whether or not to provide funding.
“Fall break caused a lot of problems for us,” saidAppropriations Chair Les Williamson.
The Sailing Club’s retreat was scheduled for this weekend.Although Williamson’s committee recommended to fund the eventin full, he stipulated that they did so only because they felt thatif they recommended against funding, the club would not have timeto appeal the decision before their event.
The committee’s reservations about the lack of properplanning quickly became the topic of debate as the issue went tothe floor.
“There are red flags all over this event,” Directorof Student Activities Arlene Manthey said.
A number of senators questioned the group’s plans to takeseveral people out for a weekend of sailing without attempting toreceive approval from the university’s risk managementdivision.
When planning the event last year, risk management told Vojtechthat they would not consider approving the event until the fundingcame through from Senate. This year, he decided not to pursueapproval until the body voted on the funding, he said.
The club also failed to invite or seek approval from theirfaculty/staff advisor, Tim Moore.
Many senators expressed concerns about Senate’sculpability if accidents should occur during the weekend.
“If university dollars are spent on this event, theuniversity can be held responsible,” Manthey said.
But those in favor of funding the event painted a picture of theSailing Club and Vojtech as members dedicated to running andexpanding their organization despite its very specializednature.
“It’s our duty to fairly consider whether we shouldprovide money for this event,” Meadows Senator Michael Dorffsaid. “It’s the university’s responsibility tomake sure it’s safe.”
Throughout much of the debate, no representative of the SailingClub was available for the Senate to ask questions of regarding thenature of the event. Vojtech did arrive after being called byEngineering Senator Travis Glenn as the debate was drawing to aclose. But before any questions could be asked about the planningof the event, the body moved to close the debate.
Although the Senate voted 25-9 to deny the organization funding,several senators signed onto Dorff’s request that the minutesreflect that the decision was “based on hearsay.”
In other business, the Senate disregarded a recommendation byits executive committee and approved a bill proposed by Law SenatorAndrew Novak that would require stickers that read “Funded byStudent Senate” on all items bought through its funding.
The body also voted to fund $358 for the Russian Club’sannual masquerade, $205 for the Dallas Kids Project mock trial and$1,094 to send two members of the Health Law Association to thenational Fundamental Health Law Conference.
