Student Activity Fee Board Meeting
Friday, September 12, 2014
3:30 pm 111 HUB
Minutes
Attendance
Present
Mary Edgington, Senior Director, Union and Student Activities
Justin Molitoris, UPAC Chair
John Wortman, UPUA Representative
Danielle Rhubart, GPSA President (via phone)
Andrea Dowhower, Asst. VP for Student Affairs
John Shaffer, CCSG President
Devin Heckman, CCSG Representative, SGA President, Penn State Berks
Stacy Wanerman, CCSG Representative, SGA President, Penn State Abington
Anand Ganjam, UPUA President
Patrick Tanner, Student Services Manager, York (via Polycom)
Theresa Bonk, Director of Student Affairs, New Kensington
Absent
Austin Fink, CCSG Representative
Leah Luzhansky, Faculty Senate Committee on Student Life
Welcome/Roll Call
Roll call was taken.
Adoption of the agenda
John Shaffer would like to add CCSG funding subcommittee discussion to the agenda.
A motion to accept the amended agenda was made by Mary Edgington and seconded by John
Wortman. All were in favor.
Adoption of the minutes (April 25, 2014)
A change was made to John Shaffer’s title to “Vice President” instead of “President” for the
April meeting.
A motion to approve the minutes as amended was made by Justin Molitoris and seconded by
Mary Edgington. All were in favor.
Announcements by the Chair
Introductions were made. Andrea reviewed the timeline and schedule for future
meetings/committees and the charges for both. The next meeting will be held October 10th and
the board needs to begin the discussion of fee levels at this meeting to meet the deadline
schedule. Show cause budgets and the auditing process were added to the agenda. Andrea
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presented an overview of general SAF board procedures. Voting is not conducted at the same
meeting that a topic is introduced and discussed. The topic must be announced 10 business days
prior to a voting meeting. Subcommittees are set up to discuss the topics that need more work
and discussion before a vote occurs. This board will hear appeals for funding request denials
from University Park and the campuses. The appeals committee does not decide if a request
should be funded but decides if it should go back to the allocating committee for additional
review. It is important to be objective while you are on the board and think broadly for the
betterment of all students and not just students served by your specific group.
Public comment
None at this time.
Items to be discussed/voted on
None at this time.
Items to be introduced
Show cause budgets for GPSA/UPUA
Jill Leidy and Melanie Bernier thanked everyone involved with the show cause budget process.
They did not see anything that raised alarm. There are two areas to be cognizant of in future
audits.
1. The way UPUA initially identifies programs for funding, and
2. Amount of previous fiscal year’s monies that are returned (unspent dollars).
Discussion ensued on how UPUA identifies programs for funding. UPUA commented on the
large monetary return and stated that this year they should have a better understanding and
provide more funding throughout the year resulting in less return. Andrea stated that she would
rather see returned funds than crazy spending at the end of spring/beginning of summer just to
use the funds.
GPSA stated that they understand why 18.5% was a concern and they don’t see this reoccurring
this year. Andrea suggested that each group talk with their members about the budget and this
board will re-visit this topic at the October meeting.
Handbook changes
There have been inconsistencies in the Manual. Mary and Andrea stated that some changes were
made over the summer to improve and correct grammar and wording. Andrea asked that every
member review the manual and come to the October meeting with suggestions about changes.
As a reminder the changes made to the manual are incorporated for the next year and some
changes may need VP approval.
Proposal – reorganization of tier system and creation of subcommittee
John Wortman discussed a proposal that was created and presented which would revise the two
tier system – one would be determined by UP and the other by the campuses, and each
Commonwealth campus could choose which tier would work best for them. John clarified that
the proposal had not been approved by the respective organizations but had general support.
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Discussion ensued.
A motion was made by John Wortman to create a subcommittee to discuss this proposal and
seconded by John Shaffer. All were in favor.
A motion was made by Anand Ganjam that John Wortman chair this committee and seconded by
Mary Edgington. All were in favor.
Devin Heckman will serve as a co-chair with John.
CCSG funding – creation of a subcommittee (addition to agenda)
John Shaffer would like to form a subcommittee to discuss CCSG funding. The manual shows
that their budget is set at $36,500. However, this lump sum funding approach has not been
implemented. Two years ago the SAFB passed a revised plan for the funding of CCSG that had a
three- prong approach. Currently, CCSG continues to be funded centrally at $30,000. Devin
Heckman suggested that the SGAs and DSAs should discuss this idea first among the campuses
before meeting in a subcommittee. All agreed.
Other discussion
Andrea mentioned that the November meeting will be a challenge as half of the board will be at
UP and the other half at Abington. Phone and Polycom will be set up in both locations.
A motion was made by Devin Heckman to adjourn the meeting and seconded by John Wortman.
All were in favor.
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