Over 150 committee applications have been distributed, and the Student Activities board has publicized its fall schedule of events.

Listeners making it through the first few minutes, however, will also hear a candid conversation over the nationwide stir Drake University’s “D+” recruitment campaign logo has caused.

Visit the new Drake Advantage page

Vice President of Student Life Byron Spears opened the discussion by addressing Dean of Students Sentwali Bakari. Vice President Spear said he’d been contacted to comment on the campaign by organizations such as the Des Moines Register.

Dean Bakari said that at a meeting he’d attended with provosts and Tom Delahunt, vice president of admission and financial aid, and Deb Lukehart, executive director of marketing and communications, the “D+” had drawn mixed reviews.

“The feedback was all over the place,” he said. “There were those that said it was really great and those who voiced some concerns.”

When the issue was brought up for open discussion, a long list of senators indicated a desire to express their opinion.

Most were less than impressed, but few gave the entire “Drake Advantage” campaign a bad review.

““It’s just that cover. Once you open it, you can see it and understand,” said Sen. Seejo Valacheril. “It’s just that initial reaction.”

Vice President of Student Activities Greg Larson said he thought too much clarification was needed in order to send the right message after students saw the D+ logo.

“If you have to explain it that way, maybe it’s not working as well as it should be,” he said.

Others, such as Sen. Megan Hutcheson, questioned why the university hadn’t used the resources already available in its students at the School of Journalism and Mass Communication to design the website and brochures.

“I don’t understand why they don’t reach out to such a good program,” she said.

Many senators also pointed out that the controversy had its silver lining.

““Rest assured we’re differentiating ourselves,” Sen. Kayleigh Koester said. “We can be proud that Drake is a high enough institution that people want to talk about us.”

Sen. Nate Bleadorn seemed to agree.

“If nothing else, people are looking at us,” he said. “Any publicity is good publicity.”

Students can access the entire conversation through the podcast at iTunesU, located on the Campus Life tab in blueView.

Sen. Michael Riebel announced that Senate would be trying out the new podcast system for about a month, then evaluate its effectiveness.

“We’ll give it four weeks,” he said. “Think about it, talk about it. We’ll see how it goes.”

IN BRIEF:

• Meetings now being podcasted through iTunesU
• Senate info meeting for FY students Sept. 7^th at 6 p.m. on Pomerantz Stage
• SAB fall schedule has been finalized
• Overall, senators disapprove of D+ logo, but appreciate Drake Advantage campaign as whole

Student Senate podcasts are available through the Drake iTunesU store in iTunes.  You must have Apple iTunes installed on your computer to listen.

Would you be interested in listening or watching Student Senate meetings live or on-demand on The Times-Delphic website?  Send digital@timesdelphic.com a message with your opinions.

-Edited by Lizzie Pine

“The comments were much more positive than last year,” said Sen. Emily Krstulic when asked about the student feedback from the budget poster in the Olmsted Breezeway.

The most prominent issue that arose from discussions over the budget from the past two weeks was role of Senate in monitoring collaboration between annually funded organizations.

Coalition of Black Students received $500 for a “collaboration” line item, while SAB did not receive any of the $6,000 that they requested for the same line item in their own budget. La Fuerza Latina received $500 for a “cosponsoring” line item.

However, Student Body Treasurer Kyle Lewandowski reminded Senate that once organizations are given their budget, they are free to spend it however they want, which could include collaborations.

“What is Senate’s role in defining collaboration?” Lewandowski asked. “There’s organizations that are spending money not exactly how their budget is written. Organizations see opportunities to work together and they don’t see that back in March or April when they submit a budget.”

“What may happen is that organizations have funding for events that fall through, and then they dump that money into a pool to spend on something later,” Byron Spears, the vice president-elect of student life, explained. “What kind of protection is there against that to make sure that student activity fees are spent in the best way for the student body?”

Sen. Carla Olszewski stated that if one organization wants to hold an event, and another organization wants to participate, it’s unclear “what the point is making them jump through another loophole in order to collaborate.”

“One of the reasons that Senate gets a bad reputation on campus is because we try to control everything,” she said.

Senate resolved to look further into proposing a change to the Student Fees Handbook that would create a reasonable way to monitor the financial collaboration of annually funded organizations.

Tisleen Singh, vice president of student activities, reported that Student Activities Board will be discussing the possibility of programming for the same day every week for the next school year at their next meeting.

Spears reported that six candidates are running to fill two organizational council senator positions for the next school year. Those candidates will be elected April 28 by the Organizational Council to serve on Student Senate.

In his bimonthly report, Student Body Auditor Cory Vancura quickly presented the current standing of organization budgets to Senate. The presentation showed what percentage of each annual budget has been spent by this point in the year.

Vancura encouraged any organization that has not yet turned in receipts for purchases out of their budgets to file them as soon as possible to the Student Life Office.

The Student Fees and Allocations Committee (SFAC) presented the results of the budget hearings of annual-funded organizations. A total of $300,000 was allocated to 24 different on-campus groups, when over $348,000 was requested.

“SFAC had to cut roughly one-seventh of the money requested,” said Kyle Lewandowski, student body treasurer and chair of SFAC. “It was a tough decision.”

The largest amount of $149,422 went to the Student Activities Board, and Student Senate received over $30,000. Coalition of Black Students, La Fuerza Latina and Rainbow Union were the only other organizations that received over $10,000.

The Public Affairs Committee has placed a poster in the Olmsted Breezeway that displays the entire allocation of the budget. Senate is encouraging students to respectfully comment on the poster before they make their decisions at this week’s meeting.

If Senate wants to make any changes to the budget, they will have to turn down the current proposal, and another two weeks will be needed to approve a revised budget.

SFAC ALLOCATED

$300,000

TO 24 ANNUAL-FUNDED ORGANIZATIONS THIS YEAR.

SAB RECEIVED $149,422.

No one was more relieved than First-Year Interest Senator Eric Gud­mundson, a senior who is chairman of the FYI Committee. Gudmundson worked as the mediator between the committee and Student Senate as the proposal was drafted and revised multiple times.

“I feel like I won an Oscar,” Gud­mundson said.

The new bylaw states that instead of electing 10 senators-at-large in the spring for next year’s Senate, only nine will receive spots around the table. However, next fall, the first-year students will directly elect one of their peers to become a senator. This new position will replace what is now Gudmundson’s role.

To allow time to become ac­quainted with Senate and the elec­tion process, the Election Commis­sion stated that this election would occur in mid-October at the earliest. Until the first-year senator is elected, the vice president of student life will temporarily run the FYI Committee. The committee will be selected at be­ginning of the year with all the other Senate committees.

Student Senate also approved the amendment to change the Student Fees Handbook to restrict how stu­dent activity fees can be used by orga­nizations for charity events. Diversity Interest Senator La’Cee Groetken expressed her feelings on how this would affect multicultural organiza­tions.

“It concerns me that it’s reliant on pure donation,” Groetken said. “But if the current situation is a violation, this is what we have to work with.”

“Not passing this (amendment) would be a violation of Drake’s tax-free status,” said Laura Menendez, an organizational council senator.

The approval of the Drake Re­ligion Coalition was also passed at the table. President Rix Thorsell was present to clarify the difference be­tween his proposed organization and the recently approved Drake Inter­faith Dialogue.

“Interfaith Dialogue is more on a personal faith level, where students express their own views,” Thorsell said. “Religion Coalition is meant to take a step back to discuss reli­gion and remove the personal bias of faith.”

And finally, Senate voted to offi­cially support the organization of a “Day of Service” for Drake students, which will have a trial run later in the spring.