Members of the Citizen's Alliance for the Legalization of Marijuana found themselves in an unfamiliar situation Tuesday, as the IU Student Association denied funding for an upcoming festival.\nIUSA refused CALM's proposal of $1,375 from the Grass Roots Initiative Fund, which had been authorized in 1991. CALM was looking to use the funds for their "Fall Fest" to pay for musical acts and guest speakers.\n"I was surprised by the vote," IUSA Congressional Secretary Alan Grant said. "For the last four or five years they have received the funding."\nThe proposal received 13 yes votes, 21 no votes, and 8 abstained.\n"I didn't feel it was fair to spend student money on a full student-supported event," said Greek South Representative of Congress Liz Senn. "It didn't seem like something for all of the students."\nJesse Laffen, Chief Policy Advisor, was one of the first to see the proposal and had to recommend some changes before it even went to the floor.\n"The GRIF budget is only $10,000, and they (CALM) were originally asking for $2,700," Laffen said. "That was over a quarter of the budget so $1,375 was what I sent to committee."\nLaffen said CALM originally told him they would be looking to advertise off-campus, and that $300 of the funding would be used to buy the guest speakers' and the bands' dinner after the show. Laffen felt it unnecessary to purchase dinners for the bands and speakers if they had done the show for free to support the cause in the past.\n"When they went to floor, their story changed," said Laffen. "They said that the $300 was going to be for a state-wide recognized band, and that they were planning to advertise in the IDS."\nLaffen also said that in the past, the group had always asked for less money than this year's request, but had always received the funding.\n"Had the bill passed I would have gladly signed it," IUSA President Casey Cox said. "But it all depends on presentation and whether or not Congress feels it's worth the funding."
IUSA launches new Web service\nThe IUSA has also been working on another project recently to give students another method of getting their books. The group has started a Web service call www.buyiu.com.\nBuyIU acts as a location for students to post books to sell, and they can then be purchased directly over the Internet. The Web site works in a similar fashion as Ebay and other online selling venues.\n"We saw that this was something lacking for the students," Cox said. "Student government recognized this and came through with a solution."\nDuring Cox's campaign, preliminary plans were put in place, and they began contacting other Universities with similar Web sites. They then found the Dog Ears Company, a Web design company, that could provide what Cox and his campaign was looking for.\nAfter receiving the funding from IU to get it started, IUSA got the Web site up and running at the beginning of the year.\n"It is there as a service for the students," Grant said. "We wanted to give them another place to get their books."\nCox said that they have currently been giving things some time to settle, but will be looking to start advertising the site soon. Right now they have about 100 users, but Grant said they are looking for that number to grow in the upcoming months.\n-- Contact staff writer Brian Janosch at bjanosch@indiana.edu.
