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.

With a determined expression, large headphones wrapped strategically around his head and the whispered count of beats, Mike Tirman is able to take a plain beat and make it dance.

He calls himself DJ Frontir when he’s mixing beats, but when he’s mixing with students, faculty and administration at Butler University, he’s known as the chair of the Council on Presidential Affairs.

Sitting behind the executive board table, Mike Tirman addresses campus concerns, fields questions about university improvements every Wednesday at SGA.

After watching Tirman work behind his jumble of equipment complete with cords and switches galore, it becomes clear that performing as a disc jockey is not simply about pressing the play button.

Tirman said there is much more to being a DJ than what meets the eye.

“It’s really a very technical process,” he said.  “It’s an art.”

While Tirman said most of his friends at Butler know he is a DJ, it is not commonly known throughout the student body.

“It’s almost like a running joke, because I’m in the honors program, I’m in [Student Government Association] and I mean, I’ve been a fairly straight-laced kid, but I’m a DJ,” Tirman said.

As a college student, Tirman usually only performs at Greek events, school events and weddings.  Tirman admits to having a younger audience, though.

“Some of the gigs I have done are middle school dances,” Tirman laughed.  “It is kind of fun to go to a middle school dance and see how awkward the kids are.”

Tirman began his career as a DJ during his sophomore year of high school.  He was involved in high school theater and said he always had an interest in music and sound equipment.

When he entered college, Tirman continued his career as a DJ.  The only difference was his show name—DJ Tirmonster became DJ Frontir.

While he said he loves classical music, his favorite music to perform and listen to is electronica.

While Tirman said he plans to continue his career as a DJ in law school, academics will always come first.

“I love being a DJ, but it’s always been this side gig for me,” Tirman said. “I really want to try and keep it as more of a hobby.”

While many people might be surprised to learn that Tirman is a DJ, his friends don’t find his hobby that shocking.

Freshman Becky Pokrandt, who serves on CPA with Tirman, said it is hard to see him as anything but a genuinely nice, fun-loving guy even though he is very organized and holds many leadership positions on Butler’s campus.

“I always saw him as this really outgoing, loud-in-a-good-way person,” Pokrandt said.

Senior English major Ginnye Cubel is also on CPA with Tirman, and she knew Tirman as a DJ before she even became friends with him on CPA.

According to Cubel, there is no one better to work with than Tirman.

“He’s good at getting things done, and he’s very encouraging,” Cubel said. “He’s never strict or scary.  He’s very fun and relaxed.”

Whether Tirman is leading a CPA meeting or spinning as a DJ, Cubel said there is little he can’t do.

“He can get anything done. I’m convinced,” Cubel said.

The key to being a successful DJ is to think simply and always remain aware of the beat, according to Tirman.

Some of Butler University’s soft spaces may soon be receiving a face lift, pending approval by university officials and input by students at an upcoming “furniture fair.”

Council on Presidential Affairs Chair Mike Tirman heads the soft space committee, which was put together by CPA to plan and research areas on campus that could be remodeled.

Soft spaces are any public areas on campus that students can use to hang out, relax or use for either personal or collaborative studying, Tirman said.

The soft space committee will present plans to members of the administration this Thursday, Tirman said. If the plans are approved by the administration, the Butler leadership board and the Board of Trustees, improvements to soft spaces will be made.

Senior project manager Craig Hardee said that the areas of focus for upcoming renovations include the third floor lounge and areas at the tops of the stairs in Jordan Hall; Gallahue Hall’s atrium, commons area and the area in the basement; at the foot of the stairs of Irwin Library; and, most prominently, soft spaces in residence halls.

The committee also has looked into adding learning technology into some of the collaborative soft spaces, such as a Steelcase media space, but Hardee said the price is restricting.

Renovations also will be made to the tower conference room in Atherton Union, the commuter lounge and the computer lab, Hardee said.

Hardee said that “soft goods” are the primary focus. These include lounge chairs, study chairs, booths and accessories like ottomans.
Various retailers will be bringing their merchandise to campus to have an open forum on Nov. 30.

Students will be able to test various furniture pieces and provide feedback cards, which will provide insight to the committee on which pieces to purchase, Tirman said.

Kelsey Norris, a freshman accounting and management information systems major, said new furniture is needed.

“I think ‘soft space’ is a little bit ironic because the chairs don’t tend to be very soft,” she said.

Tirman said that the role soft spaces play in students’ social and academic lives make them a priority to keep up to date.

“I think this soft space [renovation] is a beginning step to making sure that student facilities are not just adequate but nice and really something you can be proud of,” he said.

Katie Cessa, a freshman exploratory studies major, expressed similar feelings as Tirman on the importance of keeping soft spaces updated.

“I like soft spaces [at Butler], because it is easy to meet with people, because they know where the spaces are,” Cessa said. “I think they need to be kept up to a certain standard. If they don’t, people aren’t going to use them.”

Hardee also said that the remodeling project also includes carpeting, paint and light renovations and adding additional power outlets to existing soft spaces.