The remaining portion of the Butler University Student Government Association’s 2012-13 budget will most likely be approved today at assembly, said Dan Schramm, vice president of finance.  SGA approved almost half of its budget at the last meeting.

“Only some of the smaller boards remain,” Schramm said. “If it isn’t approved this week, it will be the week after.”

It is the first time the next year’s budget has been approved by the previous year’s administration.

The new system is designed to give boards more time to schedule events, since they will now know over the summer how much money they have, said Schramm.

The new budgeting system will most benefit Program Board, said Council on Presidential Affairs Chair Mike Tirman.

Program Board makes up more than 54 percent – the largest part of the $655,000 budget.

Derek Friederich, next year’s vice president of finance, said one of the main things he is focused on improving next year is utilizing R.E.A.C.H. grants more effectively.

“R.E.A.C.H. programming on this campus has potential,” Friederich said. “Next year we need to focus on publicizing more awareness.”

Tirman introduced a new line item under the CPA’s expenses, which is designed to make the campus more “green” through advertisement, and programs like Recylemania.

“One of my hopes last year was that I wanted to expand CPA’s role in sustainability,” Tirman said. “I think we were successful this year, and this new line item will help us improve even more.”

Most of CPA’s $13,000 budget this year was used for green programs, Tirman said.

CPA brought the American College and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment contract to President Jim Danko this year, which puts Butler on a path toward sustainability and carbon neutrality, Tirman said.

The new system of budgeting has pros and cons, SGA President-elect Mike Keller said.

Friederich said one of the main advantages of the budgeting system is the communication between the old and new executives.

“I like the new system because you get the old executives’ knowledge, combined with the new executives’ ideas,” Friederich said.

Keller said one of the disadvantages of the new system is that new executive board members are not familiar with SGA and therefore may have difficulty budgeting.

Schramm also said it is difficult not knowing the definite dollar amount while budgeting, whereas in the past the university could provide SGA with a better number.

“We have to go off a $655,000 assumption, which is a safe number,” Schramm said.

Keller said as president he plans to tweak the budgeting system.

“It needs to be late enough for new executive members to become more acclimated and talk to the right people,” Keller said. “It is a step in the right direction though.”

SGA assembly approves the budget in chunks by a simple majority after executive members have a meeting to discuss the budget, Keller said.

Prior to voting, the assembly goes over the budget line by line and has a discussion about it, Keller said.

The budget can be amended at any point during the year by a simple majority, Keller said, but Schramm said budget amendments are rare.

Jimmy Fallon’s visit to Butler University required more than dance moves and Twitter pleas to become a reality.

The total cost to the university was $56,350.

Contributions from the Student Government Association and ticket revenues paid for most of the Jan. 29 show.  The Office of Student Affairs and Clowes Memorial Hall also contributed.

Payout to the NBC late-night host was $50,000, with the remainder of the cost accrued in procedural expenses.

“We knew it wasn’t going to be free,” said Dan Schramm, SGA vice president of finance.

Fallon charged Butler significantly less than his typical college appearance fee and did not take much profit, Joshua Lingenfelter, marketing director for Clowes, said.

“Because Jimmy came out with an entire team of writers and gave up an entire schedule for the evening, nobody was really making any money,” Lingenfelter said.  “That was a lot of people who came in and donated their time because they really wanted to do it.”

Prior to performing in the sold-out “Jimmy Fallon and Friends” show, Fallon told The Collegian that he was swayed by the YouTube video featuring Butler students doing the “Come Back Jimmy Dance.”

The breakdown within SGA saw $20,000 come from the Podium Expressions committee and $5,000 from the Late Nite committee.

Program Board, Finance Board, Public Relations Board, Operations Board and the Council on Presidential Affairs combined to cover another $8,000.

Student Affairs put $5,000 toward the stand-up comedy event.  Clowes, the host venue, handled the contracts, equipment, labor and scheduling.

Ticket revenues covered the roughly $18,000 remaining in the cost, Lingenfelter said.

Mary Ann Huser, office manager of the PuLSE Office, said payment has already been processed.

Students campaigned eagerly for Fallon to return to Butler for the first time since 2001, often attaching the hashtag #JimmyBackToButler to their tweets.

“That brought him here,” freshman marketing major Kashton Foley said.  “He likes to have a lot of fans.”

But freshman finance major Nick McInally said Fallon might not be completely forthcoming.

“The money’s nice,” McInally said.  “He realizes he’s going to get a lot of good publicity.”

The office of Peter Levine, Fallon’s agent at the Creative Artists Agency, did not immediately return a request for comment.

Realizing the host of “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” would be in Indianapolis the week leading up to Super Bowl XLVI, Fallon’s representatives contacted Butler administrators in December to express interest in scheduling an event.

Vice President for Student Affairs Levester Johnson met with Irene Stevens, dean of student life, and members of the PuLSE Office to discuss logistics.

“Everyone agreed it was a relevant and very good student program,” Jen Agnew, assistant director of the PuLSE Office, said.
Clowes officials then negotiated compensation and other details.

On Jan. 6, SGA executives received notification of the price and agreed to meet the cost necessary for Fallon to appear.

“If it was exorbitant, we wouldn’t have done it,” Schramm said, “and $50,000 didn’t seem unreasonable.”

The show ran for about an hour and 45 minutes, as opposed to the 45-minute length Fallon initially proposed.

In addition to promoting the Butler brand, Lingenfelter said the event helped establish relationships between the university and people in network television.

“You can’t put a price tag on those things,” he said.

Agnew said social media is what ultimately enticed Fallon.

“I’m really proud of the students’ role,” she said.  “We wanted him to come back to our school.  He wanted to come back to our school.

The Super Bowl gave us that opportunity to come together.”

Butler University Students for Liberty is one of the youngest and least known groups on campus, and they are letting an incredible opportunity pass right before their eyes—to endorse U.S. Representative Ron Paul (R – Texas) for president.

The group, founded in Oct. 2010, promotes ideas of civil liberty and fiscal freedom to college students.  In short, they are Libertarians.

There is a vital difference between Paul and the other candidates; he actually sticks to his beliefs.  Paul may be running for the Republican nomination, but he is a Libertarian through and through.

Paul is one of four remaining presidential hopefuls seeking the Republican nomination for president in the 2012 election.  The other three are former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich and former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum.

Students for Liberty’s focus is informing students about the ideals of libertarianism, so it seems that they would support Paul’s campaign.  However, according to Butler students Josh Ackermann and Dan Schramm, former executive officers and founding members of Students for Liberty, the group is not tied to any political party and does not endorse any candidate.  The group leaves this up to individual members.

Schramm said that he is endorsing the Libertarian party’s nominee, Gary Johnson, and Ackermann said that he has been a Paul supporter since first hearing him speak in 2007.

It makes enough sense that a group that champions individual liberty would refuse to choose what candidate to endorse for its own members.

It is a respectable stance, but they are letting this incredible opportunity slip past them.

So, Students for Liberty members should get out on campus and vocalize support for Paul.  Supporting a third-party is respectable, but look at history.  The most successful third-party candidate was Ross Perot in the 1992 presidential election, and he did not win a single electoral vote.

Third-party candidates cannot win; it is a historical truth, and it is a trend that does not look to be broken any time soon.  However, there is nothing wrong with supporting what you believe in.

Chase Smith, president of Butler University College Republicans, said that he respects the young group for separating themselves from the Republican and Democrat groups.  Smith also said that Ron Paul was one of the few candidates that he has seen in his lifetime that truly believes what he says.

Paul’s libertarian ideals have led media figures and politicians alike to declare him “dangerous,” but looking at his stances on the issues, he does not seem dangerous.

Like Republicans, he is pro-small government, wants to lower taxes and repeal “Obamacare.”  Like Democrats, he is against U.S. involvement in foreign affairs.  Paul supports pulling U.S. troops from Afghanistan quickly and even shutting down military bases in countries such as Germany and South Korea.

Unlike Republicans or Democrats, Paul wants to end the Federal Reserve and legalize marijuana  and other illegal substances.

It is easy for college-age citizens to like Paul’s stances.  He wants to empower the citizenry by keeping government out of the lives and wallets of the people.  He also wants to legalize marijuana, but that would only cater to some people.  College students usually like having more money at hand, so that’s a plus for Paul.

Paul is the best bet that Libertarians have in 2012.  The Students for Liberty can stick to their guns and leave campaigning up to the individual members or take a stance and support a candidate who is libertarian to the core.