The Union Programming Council will get its party, but on a smaller scale than it’s used to.
After nearly an hour of heated debate and three amendments, the ASUU General Assembly passed a bill last night granting $5,000 to the UPC to fund Crimson Nights, a monthly late-night party held in the Union that typically hosts thousands of students.
Although the bill was reduced from $25,000 to $5,000 by the Senate last week to comply with student government law, many Assembly members tried to increase the amount of money given to the UPC, but failed to get the two-thirds vote necessary to advance a bill.
Now, the UPC will receive $30,000 less from the Associated Students of the University of Utah than it did last year, which could cause them to cancel several Crimson Nights.
Crimson Nights Director Madison Warren said the money cut is equivalent to the cost of two events, but the UPC will try to make budget cuts so it will only have to cancel one, if any, Crimson Nights.
“I really don’t want to cut anything,” Warren said.
UPC leaders will meet Monday to discuss ways to reduce their budget. Changes might include cutting the budget for T-shirts, lanyards and staff meals. They might also replace professional card dealers for the event’s casino area with student volunteers.
The bill, which gives the UPC money from the ASUU general reserve through the Presenter’s Office, was reduced to comply with a rule from Redbook, the student constitution, that says no student group can receive more than $5,000 each year.
In years past, ASUU gave UPC far more than the allotted $5,000 — giving it $50,000 last year. This year, legislators and executive cabinet members decided to enforce the law so student groups would be funded more equally.
ASUU already gave UPC $15,000 this year from its main budget so the funding cut would not cripple it completely.
At the meeting, Assembly representatives in support of the bill applauded the way Crimson Nights reaches out to students. Some questioned the difference between ASUU’s spending practices and UPC’s.
“We’re all going to eat pizza tonight and we wear our ASUU T-shirts,” Engineering Representative Dan Brinton said. “Think of all the kickbacks you’ve already received.”
Opponents advocated saving money for student groups who will need it throughout the year, saying all groups should be funded on an equal plane.
“Really, though, is this fair? To go against Redbook and give more (than $5,000) — we don’t have that much to give,” Assembly Vice-Chair Katherine Broadhead said.
Broadhead said the Assembly should set a precedence of only funding student groups $5,000 so they would have enough money to fund groups throughout the year. She noted that other groups asked for more than $5,000 and were denied.
University College Representative Miles Petty said the precedence was set by previous administrations when they heavily funded UPC.
“If we’re going by precedence, we have the responsibility to give funding,” Petty said.
The bill was amended three times, changing the funding first from $5,000 to $15,000, then to $10,000 and finally to $8,000. All amendments failed, so they voted on the original $5,000, which passed.
Each amendment failed to receive the required two-thirds majority by only a handful of votes.
UPC leaders said they were appreciative of the support given by so many Assembly members.
“I was all smiles for a while…and just thrilled to see them (give) support, make amendments and stay for so long,” Warren said.
If the amendments had passed, the bill would have been in violation of the law, forcing ASUU leaders to look for clarification of the definition of a student group in Redbook and possibly sending the rule to the ASUU Supreme Court, Student Body President Spencer Pearson said.
Pearson must now sign the bill to put it into effect.
“We’re already giving them $15,000, which is technically outside (the law), but that wouldn’t be good for the overall school,” Pearson said. “We’ll move toward the $5,000 in the future.”
Tyler CobbTanya Tapp, Associate Director of Operations for Crimson Nights grimaces after hearing the vote that limited the funding for Crimson Nights from ASUU to $5,000.