Butler University’s Student Government Association will vote this afternoon to approve the largest budget in the organization’s history.

More than $748,000 collected from student fees will be allocated to student organizations and programs.

Each year, Butler students pay approximately $288 in student fees. About $180 goes to SGA.

Representatives from Butler’s more than 150 student organizations will vote on how that money will be allocated.

There are six boards that fall under the SGA umbrella—Council on Presidential Affairs, the Finance Executive Board, Public Relations, Operations, R.E.A.C.H. and Program Board.

SGA’s budget covers expenses accrued by each of those boards. It also funds—among other things—class activities, club sports, a presidential initiative, basketball trips and a volunteerism budget.

Assembly will go through the budget line by line to determine the final figure.

The executive board has made suggestions to this year’s budget, which was originally determined over the summer.

This year’s proposed budget increased by more than $45,000 from last year.

Each student is represented by at least one person in the assembly. Residential halls, Greek houses and every university-recognized student organization are required to have at least one representative.

The Collegian will report the final budget after this afternoon’s meeting.

SGA assembly meetings are open to every student. The meeting is today in PB150 at 4:30.

About 51 percent of students disagree that Butler University is diverse,  according to results from a new survey by  Student Affairs.

About 37 percent somewhat disagreed that Butler is diverse, and 14 percent strongly disagreed with that statement.

The survey gauged Butler’s diversity and students’ perspective on campus atmosphere.

There were 527 students who participated in the poll. Seventy percent were women and 29 percent were men.

A fifth to a quarter of each class was represented, according to the study.

Student Government Association President-Elect Mike Keller said this is because people only think of diversity as involving race.

“Diversity is a broad definition,” Keller said. “It was intended for broader areas other than race.”

Dean of Student Life Irene Stevens oversees the committee responsible for assessing the data. She said there are a number of things the campus can improve upon.

“We need to diversify campus more through admissions, and then help individuals take advantage of cultural-related activities,” Stevens said. “When students get into the real world it’s a lot more diverse than Butler.”

Stevens said everyone has the ability to act as an ambassador for the university, which will help diversify campus.

“Students, faculty and staff are all involved in encouraging diversity,” Stevens said.

Keller said there are two areas responsible for addressing these issues: admissions and organizations on campus.

“Admissions can target more people from diverse backgrounds,” Keller said. “R.E.A.C.H. and SGA are responsible for highlighting different cultures, which comes from programming.”

Twenty-eight percent of respondents participated in diversity-related activities, which were labeled a main point in the survey’s conclusion.

Freshman pharmacy major Eric Chen said as a minority student he has not attended a “diversity-related” activity because he said it brings attention to students’ minority status.

“I think these activities make minorities feel uncomfortable,” Chen said. “The best way to make a minority student feel comfortable is to treat them as any other person.

“Minorities don’t need any preferential treatment.”

Stevens said the administration is meeting with SGA over the summer to address the findings. Focus groups will also be formed to further explore students’ perspectives, Stevens said.

Keller said the low participation in diversity-related activities is due to the target audience of R.E.A.C.H.’s programming.

“People assume diversity programming is only for minorities,” Keller said. “Next year we will try to market it to a broader audience.”

One of the areas of greatest improvement was the number of respondents who described the university as “welcoming.”

Eighty percent of respondents said Butler is “very welcoming,” which is a 6 percent improvement from 2009.

Stevens said this is due to what she described as the university’s “culture of respect.”

“We want to create a university that’s welcoming,” Stevens said. “We expect that from all of Butler University.”

Politically, the survey found most students to be moderates, followed by conservatives and liberals, with 43 percent, 30 percent and 23 percent, respectively.

Keller said it is SGA’s responsibility to encourage political discussion on campus.

“Campus is stronger when people are talking,” Keller said. “We need political discussion.”

Butler University is holding its first diversity summit at 11:30 a.m. Friday in the Ford Salon at Robertson Hall.

The event, cosponsored by R.E.A.C.H. and Council on Presidential Affairs, will seek to explain the definition of diversity, discuss how diversity will fit into plans for Butler’s future and develop an assessment of the current state of diversity at Butler.

CPA Chair Mike Tirman said this event will be important for the future of Butler.

“For us to take on a more prominent national role, diversity’s going to play a big part in that for Butler,” Tirman said.

Tirman said he hopes to be able to provide the Campus Climate Advisory Committee with a list of goals and ideas that came from students who attend the event. Tirman said he thought the inclusion of a question about a students’ sexual orientation could be one such idea.

Mike Keller, the Student Government Association President-elect who has been invited to the event, said he understands the benefits that people could see coming from such a question but would caution against such an idea.

“I always think we do better when we try not to categorize people as much,” Keller said. “I think that…helps us build a more integrated and better community.”

Keller said he’s looking forward to listening to people with different perspectives of Butler.

“Sometimes people are just ignorant to the diverse issues, but I think that’s OK,” UnoBlessed Coons, the SGA vice president of diversity programming, said. “This is where you should be learning about those things— college.”

Coons said the summit is important, because the open forum provides students with different perspectives.

“I think that [the open forum] is the most important part,” Meg Haggerty, the associate director of student affairs, said. “You can’t come to a table with only one perspective. You have to be able to see it from multiple different angles.”

Haggerty said she will be attending because of her role as adviser to the Campus Climate Advisory Committee.

The event will include students and faculty who have been invited because of their involvement in relevant student organizations or because of their known ability to contribute to the conversation.

Students who have not been invited can contact Tirman or Coons to secure a place at the event.

Student Government Association President-elect Mike Keller made a bold move by choosing to have UnoBlessed Coons serve another year as the vice president of diversity programming, but it is a decision that I believe will benefit R.E.A.C.H. and Butler University.

This appointment seemed to me, at first, contrary to what Keller said during his campaign about bringing in new faces.

However, according to Keller, a vast majority of the SGA executive board will be made up of new members.

Nothing is wrong with keeping veterans around.

Heck, even Robert Gates was kept on as secretary of defense when Barack Obama took over the presidency.

I have not seen a large presence from R.E.A.C.H. this year, and I would like to see a lot more events and visibility in the future.

Coons took over after the original vice president stepped down.

Despite Coons’ disadvantages, Keller seems to have confidence in her capabilities.

“It was not so much other candidates were lacking something, but Uno has had a full year of knowing how to do the job,” Keller said.  “She’s already had a trial-and-error period that previous members of exec board did not have.  I want to see what Uno can do with a full term.”

Taking over as vice president of diversity programming last September made the job difficult.

However, she made sure that the events that had already been planned actually happened, Coons said.

“I hope that everyone continues to have high expectations for us and that we can have a more prominent presence on campus,” Coons said.  “I’m excited to come up with new ideas on how to celebrate diversity and to have more conversations on diversity.”

I believe that Keller is a man with ambitions and that Coons is a woman who has a great deal of potential with a second year as vice president of diversity programming.

Together they can do great things to push diversity forward on Butler’s campus, something that this university desperately needs to embrace.

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.

The recent struggle for Student Government Association President-elect Mike Keller to find nominees for the position of vice president of diversity programming has shed some light on the issue of filling SGA vacancies—and how best to push and represent diversity on Butler University’s campus.

SGA usually requires that applicants for vice president of diversity programming have served on R.E.A.C.H. before running for the position, but nobody from R.E.A.C.H. stepped up to run.

Keller then extended the applicant pool to the general campus population. He said that the current four applicants exceeded his expectations and that he expects more.

Perhaps more SGA positions should be opened in a similar fashion, to give those not involved with SGA a better chance to represent the greater student body.

The fact that a position that influences the administration on how to diversify Butler is usually closed off from the general public makes very little sense to me.

I think this open applicant pool for vice president of diversity programming should be a permanent change.

The position ought to be held by a student who is open-minded and driven to educate the Butler community on diverse cultures, ways of life and frames of mind.

Not to say that the people in R.E.A.C.H. do not strive to do these things, but when no one steps up to a leadership position, they show that those who are part of an organization are not always those fit to run it.

Keller said that open applicant pools work better for some positions than others if the applicant has qualifications matching the position.

However, Keller said that some positions like those on the Council on Presidential Affairs, Program Board and Finance Board are areas that require experience in order to effectively lead them.

Butler may not be famous for being an ethnically diverse campus, with a vast majority of the student body being classified as “white non-Hispanic.”

However, there are plenty of students here, both inside and outside of SGA, who are diverse in their ethnicity, in ways of life and in schools of thought.

If an applicant for vice president of diversity programming is white, black or even neon green, it does not matter.  If he or she is open-minded and care about educating the Butler community on diversity, he or she should be able to run.

Next year’s team of seven executives in Student Government Association is almost complete, but President-elect Mike Keller is still looking for one more.

The SGA  vice president of diversity position, one of six vice presidential positions, remains vacant because no one has applied.

While the position remains empty, the remaining vice presidential positions and parliamentarian position are filled.

Members of assembly appointed Scott Nemeth to act as the vice president of administration. Nemeth will also act as the chair of the Council on Presidential Affairs.

Members of assembly also appointed Derek Friederich to act as the vice president of finance. Friederich will oversee the budget and the grants committee.

Keller appointed Emily Burgoyne as vice president of public relations. Burgoyne will oversee the organization’s advertising.

Keller chose Stevan Tomich as next year’s vice president of operations. Tomich will oversee the SGA shuttle and the day-to-day operation of the organization.

Marielle Slagel was appointed by Keller to act as the vice president of programming. She will oversee more than half of SGA’s budget, which funds SGA-sponsored events throughout the year.

Keller appointed Craig Fisher to act as parliamentarian. Fisher will oversee the procedure in weekly assembly.

One of the requirements of running for the empty VP of Diversity position is serving on REACH in the past, which means the applicant pool is small, Keller said.

PuLSE Office Director and SGA adviser Caroline Huck-Watson said this position is very important to both the university and the community.

“This position is vital,” Huck-Watson said. “This person provides the opportunity to highlight different views and perspectives, which is important to Butler and the college experience.”

Keller said there was a lack of interest and time among the eligible candidates.

Due to this vacancy, Keller said he has opened up the applicant pool to the rest of campus.

“If we are able to find a strong candidate, we’ll have to go through assembly to have him or her voted on and approved,” Keller said.

So far, Keller said he has received contacts from three students.

Keller said he believes the lack of candidates is related to REACH’s target audience.

“REACH tends to focus on a similar group,” Keller said. “There needs to be a bigger focus in order to attract all of campus.”

Huck-Watson   said REACH  needs to find different ways to communicate with students to help them receive  information about REACH.

“There are common ways to get out information on REACH to the students, but REACH is also open to other ways to provide students with information,” Huck-Watson said.

This situation is not unprecedented.

A similar situation occurred last year, and SGA responded with a similar solution, Keller said.

Keller said this does not hurt his executive board or his ability to work with them.

“This gives me the opportunity to look at my board, see what’s lacking, and see what I can add,” Keller said.

Huck-Watson said she also views this as a positive situation.

“This will allow an interested person to  participate in SGA and get  a leadership position,” Huck-Watson said.

Keller said he is most interested in discussing new ideas and new ways of doing things with his executive board.

“I have a lot of ideas and am very idea-focused,” Keller said.

Keller said he wants to make SGA more accessible through publicizing office hours more and encouraging student attendance at SGA meetings.

None of this year’s Executive Board members will be returning to posts next year, including SGA presidential runner-up and current vice president of operations Kelsa Reynolds.

Before last Wednesday’s announcement, current SGA President Al Carroll said that he wasn’t sure if he would hold a spot on the executive board.

“I will serve at the pleasure of the next president,” Carroll said in an interview last month. “It’s more important that I help the next president be successful regardless of me. This is about making sure that this is a positive organization and not that Al is the leader.”

In an email to The Collegian, Carroll said that he would still be involved next year.

“I have no intention of spending my senior year too far away from the action,” Carroll wrote. “I will evaluate where I can best serve this organization and then apply. I do not anticipate a third year on SGA exec, but I will apply to serve in some capacity.”

The Diversity Center held its first student-organized Mardi Gras celebration on Feb. 21 in the Residential College dining room.

The event featured Butler University’s Jazz Ensemble under the direction of Matt Pivec, assistant director of music, Cajun cuisine provided by Yats, psychic readings and a Mardi Gras Faux Floats contest.

Bobbie Gibson, assistant director of the Diversity Center, said the budget could only accommodate 80 people initially, but that number was expanded to 200 when Residence Life made the event its annual “All Hall” Celebration.

“At the end of the evening, we served 310 meals,” Gibson said, “though I don’t think that is representative of how many people came through.”

The Diversity Center Council, or DC2, received a grant from REACH to help fund the event, UnoBlessed Coons, vice president of diversity programming for R.E.A.C.H., said.

In addition, Gibson said $200 was contributed to DC2 from the budgets of each Diversity Center organization. Three organizations’ balances did not have a sufficient balance to donate the full $200, so a lesser amount was given instead.

In an email sent to those organizations, Gibson said she “would never put the organization in jeopardy of being inactive” and also did not want to prevent them from participating.

“I think we got our money’s worth,” Colleen Quilty, sophomore gender, women and sexuality studies major and president of Demia, said. “It was an overwhelming success.”

Though this is DC2’s first year celebrating Mardi Gras, Gibson said she hopes it will become an annual event.

“We are planning on making things more efficient and more organized so everything goes more smoothly next year,” Erika Ocampo, freshman pharmacy and Spanish major and DC2 member, said. “We could try to expand it to Greek life.”

Gibson said it was great to see what could be done with so many organizations collaborating and was happy to see people connecting and becoming friends.

“It was a learning experience for them, and it was a learning experience for me,” she said. “But I wanted it to be their project. I wanted it to be their success. It exceeded my wildest expectations.”

Ocampo said the group worked well together and made Mardi Gras happen.

“It was good because it taught everyone to take the initiative to be more involved on campus and to expand diversity,” she said.

As part of the Butler University Student Government Association’s Mardi Gras festivities, at least ten diversity groups made appearances.

It may not have been entirely willing, however.

SGA mandated that Asian Students Intercultural Demia, along with several others, participated in Mardi Gras in return for their grants.

That participation carried a price tag: $200,  if they could afford it.

If SGA wants to celebrate and encourage diversity, it should not dictate how diversity groups spend their grant money.

Some groups couldn’t afford it.

They found they still had a minimum amount to spend.

There are two problems with this.

First, by requiring any sort of money from these groups, SGA is essentially changing the grants it already awarded—the grants must be used at least in part to pay for an event they did not choose to be a part of.

Second: The groups were required to pony up $200 if they could.

This means that many diversity groups do not have that much in their budgets to begin with. That should be startling.

Groups struggle to hold even one event with the meager budget of $200, much less participate in Mardi Gras.

Some people suggest that the low budgets are the fault of too much bureaucracy.

The process to receive grants is unclear, sophomore Mike Keller said at the SGA presidential debate hosted by the Collegian.

A lot of people do not know they qualify for special grants from R.E.A.C.H.

So this process needs to be made clearer, certainly.

But if a group receives little funding, clearer rules are not much help.

Instead, SGA should not require attendance and money from these groups.

R.E.A.C.H. this year reportedly will have extra cash on hand.

That extra money could have been used to fund the entire event without draining the diversity groups.

The Mardi Gras celebration looks like a fantastic photo opportunity, with Butler’s awareness and diversity groups gathered to celebrate a festival about enjoying life.

Requiring the groups to attend, though, means the festival feels more than a little faked.

These groups, perhaps more than most other clubs on campus, are made up of passionate people who really care about their purpose.

They generally make themselves out to be experts on their topics and have clear goals about how to raise awareness and celebrate who they are.

So SGA should let them do what they set out to do, and let the groups use their budgets to do something crazy—like actually let people know they exist and throw a party that people show up for.

If you are looking to let loose your inner lyricist, the voice that always seems to sum up the events of your life in apt metaphors and wry similes, the Power Poetry Jam is for you.

Arielle Arzu, BSU’s vice president of volunteerism, said the Power Poetry Jam will be educational.

“It’s a great way for students to learn about different forms of art like spoken word,” Arzu said.

UnoBlessed Coons, the junior R.E.A.C.H. vice president of diversity programming, said the poetry jam will include approximately 30 minutes of open mic time for Butler University students, followed by performances from two professional groups.

The two groups are Outspoken, a local poetry group, and Kool’s Bazaar, an Indianapolis duo that mixes spoken words and music.

The event is sponsored by R.E.A.C.H., CoffeeHouse and the Black Student Union.

Arzu said the event will work into BSU’s mission while also furthering the group’s aim to become a program leader on campus.

“The Black Student Union is always finding ways to reach out to Butler’s campus and organize events that will help cultivate diversity, unity and leadership,” she said. “This year I personally think that we have done a great job thus far with getting BSU’s name out there and around campus.”

The Power Poetry Jam is only one of a number of events the BSU is sponsoring for Black History Month.

Two movie nights and the first Unity Ball were held earlier this month.

Rounding out the month is a group trip to the Charles H. Wright Museum and Motown Museum in Detroit, as well as a reception to present recent BSU research about the first African-American graduate of Butler University, Gertrude Mahorney.

More information about these events can be found on the BSU website.

Butler students who are interested in performing during the open mic session tomorrow are encouraged to sgn up at the BSU website or they can just “come ready to spit when they get there,” Coons said.