Lack of funding will not stop CALMFEST

The Citizen's Alliance for the Legalization of Marijuana will go ahead with plans to hold its annual festival despite the IU Student Association's denial of funds for the event, members said.\nThe state and University chapters of CALM said they are looking to collaborate on this year's event, which will be held sometime this fall or in the spring. Members said the plans are still in the works.\n"We're working on the relationship between the state and campus chapters," said Mike Truelove, the president of the board of state CALM. "(We) will adapt to what's required." \nTruelove said the campus chapter has been amending its constitution to fit University requirements since the summer.\n"Right now, we're going through a transition. All student groups are being given leeway to fit in with the new requirements," Truelove said. \nThe group was looking to receive funding for its annual CALMFEST. In previous years the festival, which has featured acts such as Blue Moon Revue and Alma Azul, has been held during the spring semester. Guest speakers and informational booths, including ones on the oppression of Tibet, are also found on the concert grounds.\nTruelove said board members are trying to change the event for the fall so the organization can keep up membership.\n"The festival has limited impact since people would go to the concert and then break up for the summer," Truelove said. "But we'll almost certainly be having CALMFEST this year."\nTruelove added there might be plans for a similar indoor festival in December and they would be asking for grants from IUSA again in January, saying that timing may have been an issue that led to the earlier refusal.\nThe student congress refused to grant CALM its initial funding proposal of $2,700 as well as the subsequent suggestion by the finance committee of $1,375 on Sept. 23, claiming that it was too much. The Grass Roots Initiative Fund, which was developed in 1991 to help fund non-profit groups, had a budget of $10,000 for the year. \n"I think the main reason (for the decision) was that they were asking for a quarter of our GRIF budget, which many people thought was too much," said IUSA congressional secretary Alan Grant.\nGrant added that the organization was hoping the festival would draw up to 700 people. \nJesse Laffen, chief policy advisor for IUSA, said the denial of funds was not a way of penalizing the group. \n-- Contact staff writer Obaid Khawaja at okhawaja@indiana.edu.