Budget presented at IUSA meeting

Monday night's IU Student Association meeting, which was the last of the semester, had a different feel from past meetings. Although there was debate and discussion on important matters, yelling and complaining was not heard.\nAt the meeting, Blair Greenberg, student body treasurer, presented the IUSA Budget for the year. Greenberg recently came under criticism from some members of the IUSA congress for failing to present the budget sooner.\nGreenberg explained that last week he was caught up with I-Core tests, and did not want to send out the budget without having time to explain it. \n"I want to be sure everyone has all of their questions answered," Greenberg said. "I want transparency. I work hard, and I am doing a good job."\nAlex Kessel, finance committee chair for Congress, announced there will be some changes to the way in which the IUSA budget is dealt with.\nThe finance committee will now audit the budget monthly in order to double-check for accuracy. \n"We want transparency for members of congress," Kessel said. "The finance committee will now be reviewing expenses." \nThe current budget is being reviewed, Kessel said, and so far there have been no problems.\nFollowing Greenberg's presentation of the budget, members of congress asked questions concerning several items on the budget list. There was much discussion over the $9,000 total designated as unallocated funds. Members of Congress questioned what the unallocated funds might be used for.\n"The unallocated funds are used for things that fall outside of the specific items on this list," Greenberg said. \nHe said the money may not even be spent.\n"If members of Congress have a problem with unallocated funds, a bill can be proposed saying that we don't have that power anymore," Greenberg said. "Spending of unallocated funds is a completely normal thing to do."\nIUSA congress also voted to give $2,000 in GRIF funding to Campus Crusade for Christ to help them bring guest speaker Darrell Scott to campus. \nScott, whose daughter died in the 1999 Columbine killings, travels the country giving inspirational lectures on his daughter's life and gun violence. Half of the $2,000 given by IUSA will be donated by the speaker to the Columbine relief fund. \nThe GRIF (Grass Roots Initiative Fund) is a fund set aside for groups that are politically or religiously affiliated, and therefore not eligible for CASI (Commitment to Assist Student Initiatives) funds. \n"This meeting had a different tone than last week's," Greenberg said. "I think that people are really starting to realize that we have to work together to make this work. People were scared going in to this meeting, but everything turned out OK"