The Rensselaer Union Executive Board has made great progress with the Union’s ’04-’05 budget. On Saturday, we concluded club budgeting and will continue to review the Union’s operations and facilities budgets at our weekly business meeting. This year’s budgeting sessions were significantly reduced in time due to the newly implemented online budgeting system. It was exciting to be involved with this process, since the current E-Board had a big influence in how the system was developed. The system administrators were present at each budgeting session and dedicated their time to monitoring the process. They were continuously modifying particular features, so that we were left with the most well-designed and efficient system.
Now that all of the budgets have been reviewed by the E-Board, clubs have the opportunity to appeal items in their budgets. This will be done automatically through our online system. Club officers will find a link named “appeal” under their reviewed budget. This will lead you to a page with the proper guidelines to writing and submitting an appeal. Please keep in mind that appealing an item in your budget will open your entire budget to be reviewed again. Appeals are due tonight by 11 pm and then the E-Board will meet this Saturday to hear appeals. The appeal schedule will be posted on the Union Administration office door this Friday by 1 pm, as well as being e-mailed to those clubs requesting an appeal.
Throughout this year, both club officers and E-Board members have worked together to best understand the fiscal needs of our organizations. I would like to thank the organizations that took a great deal of time in preparing their budgets and working with the E-Board to understand your goals and objectives.
Carol Kolb, Senior Editor of The Onion, America’s Finest News Source will be the featured speaker at a lecture hosted by the Rensselaer Union Speaker’s Forum this Thursday. The Onion is considered one of today’s best underground college news sources available. You can check out this web based magazine at http://www.theonion.com and then come to hear her lively lecture that will provide insights and humor into the operation of this unique publication. The lecture will be held in DCC 308 at 7:30 pm tomorrow. The lecture is free, but tickets are used to keep track of the size of the audience should crowding become an issue. To get tickets, stop by the Union Administration office or call 276-6505. Due to scheduling conflicts for this semester, the E-Board will now be meeting every Thursday for our weekly business meeting. Tomorrow, we will hold our meeting in the Patroon Room at 6 pm. As always, I encourage you to attend one of these meetings; you may also e-mail me at <a href="mailto:pu@rpi.edu">pu@rpi.edu</a> or stop by the GM/PU office with any concerns or suggestions.
