Following the impeachment of Phally Chroy, ISU’s controversial former president, the organization looks to the future.
This week, the International Student Union will be under new leadership and the focus will shift forward to upcoming events.
Allegations about proper budgets were under fire between organizations and former ISU president; this included the issues with African Student Union and allegations of “dodgy budgets.”
Basic ISU protocol dictates each organization must construct a budget proposal, that consists of all the events and needed funding for the year. When the organization is finished going over the proposal with the executive committee, the general body members vote on whether or not the budget is clean and whether it should be passed.
One of the biggest allegations that Phally Chroy, former ISU president, made during the impeachment process was that African Student Union submitted a $12,000 budget.
Toluwani Adekunle, president of ASU and a second-year graduate student in international studies, mentioned in the previous ISU meeting that mistakes were made throughout the year, but the false accusations from Chroy that have been published cannot be undone.
“At the end of the day, my passport says International Student,” Adekunle said.
“This is not my job. I do this because I want to.”
ASU received $7,206.54 from ISU this year.
Omar Kurdi, current president and vice president of ISU, said the organization receives about $100,000 from the Student Appropriations Committee.
“The money is split between our own events – like the International Dinner and the Street Fair as well as allotted money for the member organizations,” he said.
According to the International Student Union Budget of 2014-15, the total budget for the year is $107,529: $100,000 from Senate Appropriations Committee, and $7,529 was left over from the previous school year.
For this year, a total of $35,500 is allotted for ISU annual events, not including events ISU cohosts. Some events include the International Research Symposium that occurred last Friday and International Week. Events usually land at $1,000 to $1,500 a piece, but larger events – such as the International Street Fair – cost more. This year, the budget for the International Street Fair and International Week is $16,000.
Part of the funding ISU receives is not for ISU events, but instead to distribute to its 25 member organizations. This year, the organizations received $62,500, which they can use for organization programming.
The next general body meeting for ISU will take place Monday evening in Baker Center.
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