Published Monday, March 29, 2004
SGA Denies Latino Graduation Funding For Third Time
Officials cite failure to draft proposal correctly
By Eric Kinne
APPIAN STAFF WRITER

According to the old adage, the third time is usually the charm. But this was not the case for Comunidad Latina, a Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE) student organization that attempted unsuccessfully to secure $1,000 from the Student Government Association (SGA) for the third time at Monday night’s meeting.

The funds, which constitute a quarter of the remaining SGA budget for the 2003-2004 school year, would be used to support an annual university-wide graduation event meant to celebrate the accomplishments of Latino members of the Harvard community. The celebration, which is slated to cost $10,000, is coordinated through the Harvard undergraduate organization Concilio Latino and has taken place for the past eight years, according to Angelica Vela, co-chair of Comunidad Latina and a masters student in the Teacher Leadership concentration.

The organization first submitted a proposal to SGA on October 22, 2003, which failed to pass because the SGA felt that various clarifications were necessary.

“ Kim Truong, [SGA] VP of Finance, went through the proposal pretty thoroughly and did not recommend to fund the proposal at that time,” stated SGA President Minnie Quach in an e-mail message. “She suggested that the representatives of Comunidad Latina in charge of the proposal make revisions and consult with [the Office of Student Affairs (OSA)] before resubmitting.”

When the group re-submitted the proposal on March 8, SGA members had questions and concerns that no Comunidad member was present to answer—and therefore voted against the funding request.

“ Many of the members of SGA felt that there was not enough information for them to base their decision on,” said Matt Cannavale, SGA VP of Communications and Information Technology. “For instance, the line-item budget was not very detailed, no specific co-sponsoring organizations were specified, and no specific sources of funding were provided.”

In response to SGA requests, Vega attended the Monday night meeting with Belinda Gomez, who temporarily relinquished her role as SGA Officer of Student Life and Activities to represent Comunidad Latina. Gomez is also a member of the Appian Board of Editors.

Over the course of Monday night’s two-hour meeting, which spanned the spectrum of decorum from Robert’s Rules or Order to a heated and tearful exchange, a total of three motions were placed on the table to grant Comunidad Latina SGA funds. Each motion failed.

The first motion suggested granting the organization $600 (a figure determined by the cost of food per person multiplied by the number of individuals on the organization’s listserv) and fell short by one vote. The second, which suggested granting the organization the full $1000, failed by five votes. The last motion, a last-ditch effort to bring the issue to a close and grant Comunidad $800, also fell short of one vote, with several members abstaining.

Asserting that the SGA has never “nit-picked” a student organization funding proposal before, Gomez stood up during the meeting and addressed the entire voting body.

“ I’ve been very frustrated with SGA,” Gomez said. “We’ve dotted every dot and crossed every ‘t’ and it got us nowhere tonight.”

In an e-mail response, Quach did not dispute Gomez’s claim that the SGA is directing more attention to the Comunidad Latina proposal than they have in the past.

“ I believe that to a certain degree this funding proposal has received more attention than others,” commented Quach, who explained that the SGA does not usually get requests for University-wide events.

There seemed to be some confusion among some members of SGA as to the nature of the event, the number of GSE students attending, and what exactly the money would pay for.”

Still, Quach said she speaks for the entire SGA voting body when citing a desire to support the event in some way.

“ I believe that all of SGA wants Comunidad Latina to get their funding proposal approved as soon as possible once it gets further clarified,” Quach said.

Comunidad Latina will have another chance to resubmit its proposal on April 5. The SGA funding proposal deadline is April 16.

Despite the challenges that Comunidad Latina has faced in securing funds from SGA, Gomez seems confident that the event will go as planned.

“ I really want this to happen, and it’s going to happen regardless,” stated Gomez at the close of the meeting. “That’s just how our culture is.”

Eric Kinne is an Ed.M. candidate in the Language and Literacy program.