SGA Announces 2020-2021 Budget, Discusses Student Refunds and Technology Issues

The Student Government Association of Frostburg State University held a virtual meeting on Thursday, April 2. Approximately 35 students, including the SGA senators and Executive Board, were present.

President Jenna Puffinburger opened the meeting with a reminder to students telehealth and telecounseling is available, despite COVID-19 social distancing measures. She reports they “are still providing appointments, just virtually” and students should reach out to Brady Health and the Counseling and Psychological Services office for information about how to utilize services.

Puffinburger also reported she has been in discussions with FSU President Ronald H. Nowaczyk about caps and gowns for graduating seniors. She says “a lot of people have photo sessions already scheduled,” and she has advocated for graduation regalia to be available to students by mail to their individual addresses. “I think it’s very likely that we will still be able to get those,” she said.

Vice President Benjamin Forrest was next on the agenda and told the body that student-athletes had previously voiced concerns about Provost Throop’s Pass Credit/No Credit policy. According to Forrest, he has discussed the circumstance at length with Director of Athletic Troy Dell and “student-athletes are okay to take advantage of Pass Credit/No Credit and this will not impact their eligibility [with the NCAA].” Forrest says, “all students should make sure this doesn’t impact financial aid,” but that student-athletes will not face additional penalties.

The meeting did not feature many updates, as representatives from SafeRide, the Black Student Alliance, or other on-campus committees were not present.

As for new business, President-elect Noah DeMichele who currently serves as Treasurer announced the 2020-2021 SGA budget.

Notable changes in the budget were discussed briefly, including a reallocation of $2,900 from The Bookstore to the Student Advocacy budget. The $2,900 amount represents the t-shirts given out by SGA to those that attended the televised football game between FSU and Charleston in October 2019.

The proposed budget appropriates $159,266.99 in student fees.

The SGA operating budget was increased by $2,131.36 over the 2019-2020 budget, largely due to a cost of living salary increase for SGA Administrative Assistant Kathi Perkins.

The SafeRide budget also increased a total of $3,196.00 because of a University-mandated insurance deductible and increases in Maryland’s minimum wage which is paid to drivers and team leaders.

The Homecoming Budget is due to receive less student fee funding in 2020-2021, due to rollover funds from 2019 when the Homecoming Pep Rally was canceled. SGA previously allocated an additional $3,000 in “excess funds” to the Homecoming Committee. Therefore, the proposed total 2020 Homecoming budget stands at $13,200.00.

The most important proposed change to the 2020-2021 budget is in the area of event funding for student organizations.

Treasurer DeMichele and Senate Finance Committee Chair Emma Edwards announced on-campus events would see an increase in allocated funding “due to many organizations wanting to do end-of-the-semester events, like destressing” during the final exam period. Therefore, the amount provided for on-campus events will increase by $986.74 next school year.

However, off-campus event funding will decrease by $685.50 next school year. In the 2019-2020 school year, off-campus events were only eligible to receive $833.04 in funding per event. It is unclear if the proposed decrease in overall off-campus funding will result in student organizations being able to receive less than the current funding cap.

The 2020-2021 proposed budget can be seen here.

During the open comment portion of the agenda, Senator Delanie Blubaugh reported a concern about student permissions in Microsoft Teams. Blubaugh said, “IT took student ability to create Teams away,” and she “wanted to inform [SGA] that you can no longer create them for yourself and have to go through an advisor.”

President Puffinburger asked Blubaugh for the source of this information and Blubaugh said Michelle Hixon, a Technology Integration Assistant said the ability to create teams had been “taken away from students by the IT Department for reasons she would not disclose.”

Puffinburger promised to follow-up on this concern, while other SGA Senators, including Michael Hollingsworth, reported he was still able to access Microsoft Teams he had created prior to the change in permissions.

A second concern brought to SGA was by a student who asked to have their name withheld. They asked, “Have we heard anything about possible refunds for fees. Not even necessarily an amount but perhaps an expected date of when we will know more? Other colleges in the MD College System have been receiving their refunds and I just wanted to know if we had any updates! Thanks!!” in the public chat board.

Puffinburger said, “I have not heard an exact date” but the University Advisory Council had discussed it at a previous meeting. Puffinburger assured her she would tell the administration that “a date for when to expect to receive fees in important” and should would “hopefully get some answers.”

TBL reported on the perceived delay in student refunds on Friday, April 3.

Senator Samuel Bankole brought up another technology-related concern and asked that SGA approach the IT Department about platform limitations. He said, “my classes, in general, are starting to break up” when using both Zoom and Microsoft Teams. Puffinburger said that IT is still resolving issues related to distance-learning and that moving online is “still a work in process.”

The virtual meeting lasted for approximately 40 minutes. The next meeting will be held on Thursday, April 16 at 7:00 p.m. Details about how to attend the meeting will be sent by email. Concerns or questions about the 2020-2021 budget will be heard during the meeting, with an expected vote on the matter to take place the same evening.