The Student Government Association (SGA) awarded WAUG $4,731.59 in funding at the organization’s Sept. 17 meeting. The original contingency filed by WAUG asked for $6,531.59, with the compromise being reached following a debate by the senate.

WAUG’s contingency was originally higher than the $6,531.59 the radio station originally requested. However, after meeting with a task force from SGA and WAUG finding a different way to fund part of their payroll, the amount was eventually reduced.

Three amounts in total were debated. Senator  LaDonna Miller introduced the first amount of $2,551.69, which would cover licensing, programming, food, and postage. The full amount was then introduced for the debate by senators. The final amount put into debate was the $4,731.59, which was introduced by senator Kevin Zaldivar. This covered the final amount minus $1,800 that was asked for future repairs.

The senate voted and agreed on this amount with a vote of 22-7-4. After awarding WAUG this amount of money, SGA now has $50, 268.41 left in the organization’s contingency fund.

In the contingency issued by WAUG, they asked for $3,000 to cover repairs. Sam Dunklau, the student representative from WAUG, said only $1,000-$1,200 was needed for immediate repairs. The senate agreed that if money was needed for future repairs, they could file a contingency later on.

“I am wary to grant WAUG money. I feel like they’ve become more than a student group,” senator Caitlin Slone said during the debate.

This one of the main reasons SGA was worried about funding WAUG, because it seemed as though the organization was growing beyond the scope of being just a student group, which is what SGA funds.

“I think honestly that this is a compliment to them,” said SGA President David Sommers. “Next year, we’ll start looking at ways for WAUG to expand and grow. They’ll grow beyond the budget that SGA is able to give them.”

Confusion was caused over WAUG’s budget when they thought SGA provided the majority of their budget. Last year, Dean Campbell gave them a one-time $2,000 stipend, which was not awarded this year. The contingency and budget issue could have been handled by only the Executive Board, but President Sommers and the rest of his board decided it was best to bring it in front of the entire senate.

President Sommers and Vice President Jackie Jastrzebski were pleased with how SGA’s first big debate of the year went, especially as this was the first meeting with the new freshman senators.

“To have the freshman be involved and the entire senate being involved without any mix ups, it was really great to see everyone trying to contribute,” said Vice President Jastrzebksi.

Highlights from this week’s committee meetings included the Student Activities committee discussing starting a cross campus Secret Santa and Campus Improvement discussing plans to put a new pencil sharpener with the SGA logo in every academic building.

SGA’s constitution has also been updated and is available to view online. Anyone is able to access it from SGA’s webpage on Augustana’s website.