RMA approved for club fundraising

The first club to come before the Executive Board last Wednesday was the African Student Association. They requested to reallocate $150 for a keynote speaker to talk at the club’s annual Africa Night. There had not been a speaker at the event for several years, nor were there plans to get one this year. The money, added to a fund of $200, would instead be used by the club to decorate Academy Hall for the event. Although concerns were brought up regarding whether the reallocation would put too much money into the club’s decoration budget, Class of 2028 Representative Gavin Finn ’28 noted that decoration budgets for other clubs were often $200 at the bare minimum. The motion to reallocate was approved unanimously.

Rensselaer Music Association then came forward to request a new line be added to their club budget for fundraising, which would allow them to reduce their ticket price for their Evening of Jazz. The event—meant to include a jazz performance from RMA and a sit down dinner—happens in the Sage Banquet Hall in the spring and is usually catered by Sodexo. However, the price of Sodexo catering this year has significantly increased, raising ticket prices to $50 to completely cover the event. Additionally, paying for non-Sodexo catering would also incur additional fees for the event. In discussion, Club and Organization Representative Toby McDonald ’26 expressed concern that the club was ignoring less expensive options for their event and therefore should have no need to fundraise. Other members of the E-Board argued that fundraising should be open as an option to the club, as it allows them to lower ticket prices regardless of catering costs and does not affect the Union’s budget. The motion was approved 12-1-0.

Lastly, the Graduate Council came forward to request use of the McNeil room on December 4 from 3 to 8 pm for their third open conversation event with Rensselaer leadership. They expect 100 to 200 graduate students to be in attendance to discuss issues such as TA workloads and other graduate student concerns and have no other venues available for the event. The motion to allow them use of the McNeil Room was approved unanimously.

After these three motions were put forward, the rest of the meeting was closed to discuss club budgets.

The Executive Board meeting was held on November 20, 2024. The E-Board meets every Wednesday at 7:30 pm at the Shelnutt Gallery.