The student deans for UCA’s Dean for a Day, which is to be held on March 12, were announced at the SGA meeting March 3. 

The student deans are Jacob Thomas Rodriguez for the College of Arts, Humanities & Social Science, Oko Alexander Kenechukwu for the College of Business, Raven Guess for the College of Education, Dane Janowski for the College of Health & Behavioral Science, Excalibur Bunker for the College of Science & Engineering, Tykira Danner for the Schedler Honors College, and Richard Ware for the Graduate College.

Toward the end of the meeting, the senate discussed an allocation of funds presented by Executive Vice President Kylie McGraw. The budget necessary for chosen senators to attend the Conference on Student Government Associations is $10,058.49, to cover registration, food, travel and housing costs. COSGA is the largest student-run SGA leadership conference in the world and is a conference that includes speakers, workshops, town halls and round table discussions for student government associations worldwide. 

McGraw said registration itself costs $3,080.93, for nine senators and one adviser, the travel cost is $1,215.12, the cost of housing is $3,322.44 and the cost of food is $2,440, broken down to $244 per person.

Senator Hannah-Grace Fritz, chair of the accessibility committee, motioned to table the allocation discussion until the next meeting, due to her concerns regarding the high cost of over $10,000. 

“I love COSGA. It’s awesome. But I may just be a little concerned about $10,000, just considering the amount that we typically pay for other organizational conference type of trips,” Fritz said. “I don’t know if anyone has those numbers, but if we can maybe compare them, I think it’s important.”

Some senators opposed Fritz’s motion, arguing that if the allocation discussion is put off, the cost to attend COSGA will only rise, which would result in more concerns about the price. 

Vice President of Finance Molly Austin also explained that there is a constitutional rule that SGA is not able to allocate any more than $2,000 for other organizations that request funding through SAFA.

The senators voted to allocate money for the COSGA trip, with 24 voting yes, five voting no and nine abstaining. The nine who abstained will be going on the trip. 

“We might not spend all of this amount of money, especially if we don’t stay the entire three days,” McGraw said.

Out of the $10,058.49, any funds that do not get used for the conference will come back to SGA.