Student Council met Tuesday to hear budget appeals from the Vietnamese Student Association and the Indian Student Association. Both Contracted Independent Organizations made requests to alter funding allocations.
VSA Treasurer Ann Duong, a fourth-year Engineering student, asked Student Council to consider reallocating pre-approved money toward the budget for the Tet Show, an annual event held by VSA showcasing different aspects of Vietnamese culture.
“We’re asking if VSA can spend the money that’s allocated to us in a way that’s different than was first approved,” she said.
VSA President Tuan Tieu, a fourth-year College student, said the CIO’s foremost goal is to raise awareness about Vietnamese culture and improve solidarity between members as Vietnamese students and a larger culture around Grounds.
Tieu said the Tet Festival usually has a large turnout — including parents of members, University students and members of the Charlottesville community.
“This event represents everything that VSA stands for — raising awareness about Vietnamese culture,” he said.
Duong asked Student Council to allocate up to $2,000 to cover the cost of the venue for the festival. Out of the VSA’s original request of $300 for microphones for performances at the festival, they were only allocated $10, Duong said.
“That show is our biggest and most important event that VSA holds every year,” she said.
Appropriations Co-Chair Adrien Carré, a second-year College student, said that while Council allocated over $2,000 to VSA last year, the CIO only spent $500 of the money on the venue for the Tet Festival.
“Based on the money they were approved in the past, we want to limit the amount of money, because we want to make sure the money we allocate gets spent,” Carré said.
Carré also said the VSA did not spend any of the $725 allocated from Council two years ago.
Duong said the generous donations from parents of VSA members, received by the CIO last year, allowed them to spend less of their allocated money.
However, she said VSA cannot rely on donations from parents alone.
“The reason we asked for the amount for this venue is because we don’t know if we’ll get as much in donations,” she said. “Some years we’re lucky and get upwards of $1,500, some years we only get a few hundred.”
Duong said the CIO can reallocate money from their funds originally planned for a regional conference.
“Every now and then, we just simply ask our members to pay their own hotel and registration fees,” she said.
Tieu agreed and said while some years the CIO is able to reimburse members for their conference fees, members usually pay part of the cost as well.
Student Council voted to reallocate their original approved amount of $2,100 toward VSA’s use on the Tet Festival.
Council also heard from second-year College student Osama Saleem about budgetary concerns from ISA.
This year ISA experienced significant cuts to their budget compared to other CIOs in spite of increased venue costs for India Day, an event which represents a large portion of ISA’s costs, Saleem said.
“Last year this event had over 100 people [in attendance] — U.Va. students, members of the Charlottesville community,” he said. “This year we’re expecting even more people to come.”
Saleem also said the CIO’s request for funding for India Day decorations was not approved because it was presumed the decorations would not be reusable. Upon further planning, ISA decided to use a number of costumes, which could be reused by other CIOs in the future, he said.
“We requested funding for the cafeteria as well,” he said. “We weren’t allocated any money for that because at the time we didn’t present all of the invoices.”
Carré said Student Council will conduct another hearing to approve the budget for decorations considering their future usability by other CIOs.
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