Student organizations participating in summer conferences and competitions are now eligible to receive funding from Associated Students, under recently approved changes to the A.S. financial bylaws.

In its May 25 meeting, the A.S. Council overwhelmingly voted to amend its bylaws, which had previously prohibited the council from funding any activity taking place between the end of the spring academic quarter and the beginning of the subsequent fall quarter.

The amendment was meant to provide all students with an equal opportunity to participate in national conferences and competitions, rather than penalize organizations whose activities took place during the summer, according to Thurgood Marshall College Senior Senator Jason Hoskins, who introduced the legislation.

“All students pay the $21-per-quarter [A.S. activity fee], but if students are in a club with a national conference in the summer, they can’t access the money,” Hoskins said. “Even if the conference is in the summer, you send a delegation and they bring back the information to the general body. It still has the same benefits to the student body.”

Hoskins said that he first introduced the legislation in fall 2004- — after the council had temporarily suspended the bylaw to fund a summer conference — but that the senators had decided against the permanent amendment at the time.

A.S. Vice President Finance Greg Murphy also said that the council had previously suspended the bylaw when organizations had requested summer funding.

“Historically, [Student Organizations and Leadership Operations] advisers have not signed off on funding requests for summer conferences,” Murphy said. “But recently, they have been signing off on them and letting the Associated Students decide.”

S.O.L.O. advisers are not supposed to sign funding requests that violate any of the council’s bylaws. Therefore, many organizations have been denied the chance to appear before senators, at which time the council could vote to suspend its own regulations.

At the same meeting, the new fraternity Lambda Chi Alpha was allocated $400 to attend a national conference in July. The UCSD chapter is required to send one member of the organization to the conference or incur a $1,000 fine from fraternity headquarters, according to Hoskins, who is a member of the fraternity.

“Lambda Chi Alpha has their national leadership conference on July 28-31 in Maryland and there is a fine if they do not go,” Hoskins said. “During the summer, there are no opportunities to find funding outside of the A.S. Council.”

During the 2004-05 school year, the council informally set a $400 allocation limit for each student organization. Organizations are able to ration these funds on any number of conferences.

During amendment debates, former interim Revelle College Freshman Senator Ted McCombs, who voted in favor of the amendment, said that the council should consider fiscal responsibility before allocating money during a time when no fees were being collected.

“Initially, I was worried about spending fees when we had no income and I was wondering how fiscally responsible it was,” McCombs said. “But then I realized that Associated Students sends delegates to the U.S. Student Association during the summer and thought it would be hypocritical to [exclude other organizations].”

Murphy said he agreed that the issue should be addressed, but thought that the amendment would be advantageous if funds were properly allocated.

“I agree that summer conferences are beneficial to students, and it is not a question of fiscal responsibility as long as we put enough money in the line items,” Murphy said. “I proposed $19,000 [for the 2005-06 student conferences fund], not knowing that we would be funding summer conferences.”

In the current school year, the same line item began with $20,000. Throughout the year, numerous organizations requested funds, leaving the council with $333.60 remaining, after the allocation to Lambda Chi Alpha.

Due to general budgetary constraints, however, the approved 2005-06 A.S. budget included only $19,000 for student conferences and an additional $4,500 for student competitions.

“We have suspended the bylaw in the past,” Financial Controller Garo Bournoutian said. “This is giving all organizations an equal chance, and we just have to budget appropriately.”