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Syracuse University’s Student Association has a rollover budget from last academic year of about half a million dollars, a substantial increase over previous years.

The rollover budget, which includes funds from canceled SA and registered student organization events, is much larger than previous years since many events were canceled after SU transitioned to remote learning in March, said Julio Burgos, SA comptroller.

With the increase in the rollover budget, SA is using some of the extra funds to help student organizations make their events available virtually, Burgos said. The university also required SA to use some of its funding to pay for the organization’s meeting space in Goldstein Auditorium, where the Assembly can meet with social distancing.

The organization allocated $30,000 of the rollover budget to equipment needed to film and stream student events and $9,200 to Zoom webinar technology for student organization events, according to SA’s website.

SA also used $4,000 of the budget on Turbo Vote — the service SA uses for students to vote on MySlice –– and $150,000 on funding for RSOs to use for extracurricular programs throughout the year.

The university charged SA $2,812 for the use of Goldstein Auditorium, which the organization paid for with its rollover budget. While SA has been able to use Maxwell Auditorium for meetings free of charge in previous years, the organization had to relocate its meetings this fall to account for New York state social distancing requirements.

“We had to pay for Goldstein because we needed to have a physical space and that was really the only space that we could use,” SA Vice President Ryan Golden said. “It was either that or no in-person meetings.”

SA asked Rob Hradsky, vice president for the student experience, whether the association could use Goldstein Auditorium for free. Hradsky said that SA should pay for the larger room because of its increased rollover fund and the university’s financial problems due to the coronavirus pandemic, according to SA’s website.

SA’s Assembly plans to vote on paying for the meeting space with the organization’s operating budget, shifting funds back into the rollover budget in the process, Hastings said. SA will continue to use the rollover budget to pay for meeting space in Goldstein until the Assembly can vote, she said.

“This is what we have to work with and we want to do our meetings, our mission, and the things that we are required to do on campus,” Burgos said.

Published on August 30, 2020 at 11:54 pm

Contact Kailey: kmnorusi@syr.edu