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Student Senate
The Student Senate meets weekly throughout the year, and the meetings are open to all undergraduate students. Student Senate voting members include students elected from classes,
social clubs, and residence areas. The president, vice-president, secretary,
and treasurer are elected each fall, and other representatives are elected each spring.
Contact Senate at senate@muskingum.edu, or through the Senate OrgSync page.
Student Senate Activities
Senate supports numerous student sponsored projects, programs and events. Student organization funding is supported through the budget allocation of student activity fee funds. Other projects, such as the disc golf course creation or the weekly Brewed Awakenings CoffeeHouse, are supported through activity fee funds from the general Senate budget. If you are looking for funding for a student sponsored activity, please contact Senate for more information. Several funding forms are available through the OrgSync forms list.
Disc Golf Course Map and Scorecard!
 Muskingum
University Disc Golf Course
(138KB)
Budget Allocation Guidelines
The Budget Allocation Request Form is available each semester in OrgSync. The following guidelines serve as direction for your allocation requests:
Funds will be allocated for activities which would encourage students to become more actively involved in campus activities, enhance the extra-curricular and/or co-curricular atmosphere on campus, increase students’ positive feelings about the college, enrich the quality of campus life, and enhance the reputation of the college. The Finance Committee encourages clubs and organizations to self-generate funds through fundraising in addition to the funding received.
To be funded, organizations must be officially recognized by Student Senate and Student Affairs, and they must have more than eight members.
CRITERIA that will be considered by the Finance Committee:
- The number of students which will potentially be served by the activity and/or the benefit of the campus.
- The demonstrated need(s) for the activity to be offered.
- The demonstrated benefit to the Muskingum community as a whole.
- Whether the club/organization offers “CAMPUS-WIDE” programs.
Campus-wide program procedures include: Clubs and organizations must have at least one campus-wide program clearly defined in their budget, which reaches out to more than the members of the club/organization. This must be an event above and beyond the regular meetings, games, or matches.
The following will NOT be funded by the Finance Committee:
- Monetary support of any political candidate for campus or public office.
- Legislative lobbying efforts.
- Organizations or activities which discriminate on the basis of race, religion, national origin, sex, age, or an organization in which membership is not available to all students(exception of club sports). Activities of such groups that are open to all students may be considered for funding.
- Legal services
- Grants, scholarships, or loans.
- Direct donations to charitable organizations. Club money raised on your own can be used.
- Non-student generated programming.
- Library materials.
- Internal organization awards, paraphernalia (including T-shirts, pens, and anything else that promotes your group), banquets, and/or other food or drink. Refreshments served in connection with sponsored activities open to the entire campus community may be funded. T-shirts and Uniforms are NOT fundable, with the exception of competitive club sports, Dance Team, Spirit Band, and Cheerleaders. The finance committee must receive prior approval before uniforms are purchased.
- Alcoholic beverages.
- Any activity which is illegal or does not follow college policies.
- Membership dues for a nationally chartered organization such as a Greek Honorary, a professional organization directly related to your club/organization mission, as well as membership dues for an on-campus registered organization required by members.
- Transportation, meals, and lodging for conferences, performances, presentations, etc.
- The debt of an organization.
General Information:
- A group or club that submits a Budget Request agrees to abide by the guidelines and procedures of the Student Senate, the Finance Committee, and all other applicable college policies, as well as state and federal law.
- The Finance Committee reserves the right to review the overall financial condition, as well as the activities and programs, of any organization which requests funds and may utilize findings in making decisions concerning the organization’s request.
- The Finance Committee reserves the right to interview organizations concerning their requests.
- After the committee reviews all application proposals, the committee will inform the clubs in writing of their approved amount.
- The Finance Committee will not permit any loans of funds between student clubs/organizations, but co-sponsorship is encouraged.
- Any funds remaining in the club/organization accounts at the end of the year will be reviewed by the Finance Committee. The Finance Committee reserves the right to require a club return the money to Student Senate if spending over the past semester has not followed the proper guidelines and/or has not been used for the events/purposes requested. Organizations that follow the correct guidelines will have their monies carried over for future use.
- The Student Senate Treasurer, with the approval of the Finance Committee, has the right to freeze funds or recall funds which have been allocated to any organization which is not in compliance with any of the Funding Guidelines or University Procedures. In such cases, the appropriate college authorities may impose additional penalties.
- The Finance Committee reserves the right to use remaining funds in the Student Activity Fee Account to fund programs or projects that will benefit the campus community.
- The Finance Committee may propose additional guidelines, make any additional rules of procedure, and/or take actions which are required for operation of the student fund at anytime throughout the academic year with a majority vote of the Finance Committee or the Senate body.
- Organizations who wish to appeal the decision of the finance committee must notify the Student Senate Treasurer in writing within 72 hours of receipt of their allocation amounts. The Treasurer will then convene the Finance Committee to meet with representative of the organization. After meeting and discussing the issue, the committee will present the issue to the entire Student Senate body, the Senate will render a decision, and in such case the decision of the Student Senate will be final.
- The Finance Committee will only allocate $50.00 for movie nights. This will also include the food and beverages purchased for that movie night.
- The Student Senate is obliged by the University to fund the following organizations. The groups marked with percentages will receive up to the amount shown of the total allocated amount, and the other organizations will be funded based upon their requests. Centerboard – 33%;
Muscoljuan – 20%;
Black & Magenta – 11%;
Coffeehouse-7%;
Senate – 6%; These groups are guaranteed funding for eligible requests, but at no set amount: First Circle, Spirit Band, Jazz Ensemble, Wind Ensemble. Residence Hall programs, including hall activities and intramurals, will be funded on a per student fee set by Student Senate, Student Affairs, and the Business Office.
Other Information:
- Retreats may receive funding if they are open to the entire campus.
- Travel expenses incurred with campus vehicles may be funded by the approval of the Student Senate Treasurer. Travel will only be funded if the trip is deemed beneficial to the campus/community or if the activity is open to the entire campus. The physical plant has requested that travel arrangements be made through a Student Senate officer. The officer will then contact the physical plant and then inform you of your reservation.
- The Finance Committee will withhold money for educational and professional conferences. A student or group of students may request up to a total of $200 for conference registration fees.
- Groups must complete a current year registration packet, available through Student Affairs, and have an updated constitution on file with Student Affairs, in order to receive a budget allocation.
- Check requests of $100 or less may be stamped and signed by any of the four Student Senate officers. Requests of over $100 must have two signatures, one being from the Senate Treasurer. All check request, charge slips, and credit card authorization forms must be stamped and signed by Student Senate before being sent to the Business Office.
- In accordance with requests of the Board of Trustees, Student Senate shall obtain the administration of the spending of student organizations. This process includes departmental and academic honoraries and societies. These organizations, listed below, may request a maximum $50 per semester from Senate. This money will be spent within the guidelines of Student Senate. Other expenditures may be made on whatever the club chooses, but all check requests throughout the year must be signed by a Senate officer. Checks will not be cut in the Business Office without this signature. This $50/semester funding is available to all University recognized academic honoraries as of the time of budget allocations each semester.
- You must have a copy of the document on file with Student Affairs. If you have updated your constitution since the last time of allocations, please submit the updated document through OrgSync. If your request is missing any part of the necessary information, your organization WILL NOT receive any funding. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact a Senate Officer.
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