Katie Reicher, student union treasurer, presented budget changes to the Student Senate Wednesday night. Funds were taken from the Financial Management Board and the Office of the President and reallocated to the Class of 2003 and the off-campus student union.

Reicher said the treasurer's office and Financial Management Board was able to save money by using electronic rather than paper bookkeeping. She said because the office had only spent a small amount of their allocated funds, $2,000 could be subtracted and given to an organization that needed the money more.

Similarly, $2,000 dollars was taken from the Office of the President.

Originally $4,000 was allocated for the SafeRide program, but because it was not active for the first semester, Reicher said the Board took away half the money. SafeRide is currently waiting for administrative approval, and Reicher said if it is not up and running soon, $2,000 more could be taken away from the Office of the President. Of the $4,000, half will be reallocated to the Class of 2003 for a new signature event, a gala that will be held at the Century Center later this semester.

"The class of 2003 requested money and we thought the event could become tradition. We wanted to help it move forward from this point," Reicher said. "The entire Board felt strongly about this."

Of the reallocated funds, $500 will also be given to the off-campus student union for an off-campus formal.

"They seem really excited about the formal," Reicher said. "They have gotten things organized, and with out the reallocated funds, it could not have happened."

Reicher said the left over $1,500 will go into the Student Union's contingency fund which will carry forward, if left over at the end of the year, to pay off the Student Union's debt.

The senate unanimously approved the budget changes.

In other senate news:

u John Osborn presented the Board of Trustees Report to the senate Wednesday night. Osborn will travel with two other students to Washington D.C. next Thursday to give student opinion on the topic "Students' ability to understand and articulate their Catholic faith." An in-depth article describing the report will appear in Monday's Observer.

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