• MUSG allocated $5,000 to club sports at last Thursday's meeting.
• The period for allocations for club sports ended on Nov. 14, but the Senate decided to reconsider club sports requests due to special circumstances.
• The money for club sports comes from the redistribution of MUSG budget lines

In a rare move, Marquette Student Government allocated $5,000 to club sports during its Feb. 5 meeting, reopening a funding period that originally closed on Nov. 14.

The MUSG Budget Committee met last week to come up with a plan for satisfying funding requests from the Student Organization Allocation's period two for club sports.

The committee's proposal moved funds from the SOA non-club sports budget line to club sports.

Less money than expected was allocated for the current non-club sports period five, according to Budget Committee member John Kristan, a junior in the College of Arts & Sciences. Because of that, the committee appropriated $5,000 in club sports funds.

The Budget Committee recommendation passed the Senate with a 25-1 vote.

"This money was more likely to be put to use by club sports than by non-club sports," Kristan said.

The original club sports allocation was $3,850, as proposed at the Nov. 13 Senate meeting. That would have been the last chance for club sports to receive funds this academic year, based on SOA rules.

At that meeting, the legislation failed to pass with a necessary two-thirds vote. One senator voted in opposition, and 10 senators were absent.

Only club sports that filed funding requests for the original period that ended Nov. 14 will be considered for funding. Additional requests will not be accepted.

According to Financial Vice President Jonathan Giel, a junior in the College of Business Administration, the Budget Committee considered three questions when evaluating the matter of funding club sports.

The committee asked if more than the original $3,850 should be given, and if so, how much? And what process should be used to obtain and distribute the funds?

While giving club sports funds after a closed funding period is unorthodox, Kristan said the Budget Committee is operating within the rules of MUSG and SOA, since one of the committee's duties is to readjust budget lines.

"We are really confident that this is not only a workable, but an efficient solution," Kristan said.

Giel said MUSG did not plan on making a precedent of re-opening closed funding periods.

"This should only be a one-time incident," he said.

In other MUSG news…

 Senators passed a referendum that will add a question to the spring MUSG election ballot about expanding the role of the university's ombudsman.

The Senate is currently interested in asking the university to make the ombudsman a confidential source for students to share concerns about faculty and other academic issues.

However, because senators are not certain if this is an issue that is actually important to the student body, the spring ballots will ask students, "Should Marquette University expand the role of the Office of the Ombuds to include confidential and impartial outlets for students' academic concerns?"

 Senators postponed legislation that would have requested the Office of Residence Life to install either change machines or MarquetteCash stations in dorm laundry rooms.

 The Senate passed an amendment to its constitution that designates a specific place for senators from the College of Education to campaign.

Senators from that college were only recently added to the Senate body.