With evening upon evening of student organization interviews under way, the 11 members of the Student Senate appropriations committee are well into a lengthy process of allotting funds to student groups across campus, but it will soon allot funds through an expedited timeline of nearly a month.

Fortunately for the committee members, “the committee eats free,” Greg Doucette, chair of the appropriations committee, said, as members put in their dinner orders for the hour-long break from the appropriation interviews.

Dinner aside, the purpose of the appropriations committee is to delegate a set amount of funding, paid for by Student Government student fees, to student organizations they deem worthy of contribution. This process entails a period for student groups to apply for funds; then the committee sets a timeline to interview each group. After all groups are interviewed, the committee meets and decides which organizations to fund and what amount of the group’s monetary requests to fill.

As expected, this process is on a set timeline, which takes weeks to complete.

“With the current timeline, student organizations won’t get their checks until early April,” Student Body Treasurer Adam Compton said.

However, this leaves many organizations with events during the beginning of the spring semester without upfront funding or a guarantee that they will see funding at all.

According to James Anderson, a senior in accounting and member of Phi Beta Sigma fraternity, his organization hopes to hold its big event of the semester on April 3, before checks from appropriations would be available.

Compton, a junior in construction engineering and management, echoed this sentiment.

“It’s hard for [student groups] to do an event when money isn’t coming in,” he said.

In a meeting last week, Doucette, a junior in computer engineering, and Compton addressed this issue with Mike Giancola, director of the Center for Student Leadership, Ethics and Public Service, and Don Patty, director of Business and Planning.

In a consensus to expedite the process, Doucette and Compton presented the idea to move the deliberation meetings of the appropriations committee forward, so Student Senate could pass the bill containing the committee’s decisions before spring break.

The process will require senators to devote more hours to the process in the coming weeks, and especially members of the appropriations committee, to complete the process under the new timeline.

According to Doucette, the Senate will have to meet twice in the next two weeks to get the legislation through in time for spring break.

“The Senate will have to call a special meeting to hear the bill for second reading,” Zach Adams, Student Senate president and senior in industrial engineering, said.

Robert Waldrup, vice chair of the appropriations committee and senior in meteorology, said, “[This revision] may require a few more hours from the senators, but it’s worth getting the money in the hands of the groups.”

If all goes as planned, the Senate will get the final draft of the appropriations bill to the business and planning office in time to prepare and cut the checks over the holiday. Because the University will remain open over the break, the business and planning office has more time to devote to appropriations, Doucette said.

This new timeline seems like a good idea, according to Anderson.

“The fact they are going to move up the process is good because it will really benefit our organization, [Phi Beta Sigma],” Anderson said.

Doucette said he feels the appropriations process shows a proactive initiative on the part of Student Government.

“I think this would be a tangible example of Student Government doing positive things for the student body,” he said.

According to Compton, after this appropriations cycle, he plans to meet with Patty, Giancola and Doucette for “another brainstorm.”

“Our hope for future semesters is to get them checks even sooner … or maybe even a semester in advance,” Compton said.