Frequently Asked Questions

First meeting will be Monday Feb 8 at 8pm in SUB 100.

You can go to the Student Association Business Office (SUB 428) and ask - thats your best bet.

You contact the Council Chair; that position is most meant to help organizations get started. You can contact the person through email on the contact page.

The simplest way is to check the club list and if you can see your charter there, then it was approved of already.

In addition, if you were logged in with your own account when submitting the charter, you shall receive an email when it is approved of.

For as far as "Active" in the Student Association is concearned, all you need to do is keep attending the Council meetings, and you will be informed of everything you have to do there.

To become more involved, then try for a seat on one of the committees and/or Student Association Productions, again through Council (or through the Senate). The only other way is an election to become a senator or even an Executive Board member.

With each account on the site, there is an email address attached. Whoever was logged in when you submitted the charter shall receive an email to notify them of it once it is approved of.

Currently, you need to ask someone to do it for you, once your event has been approved of. I cannot since I don't have access to that information and am not in often enough to be helping people with this sort of thing.

The reason for this is that there is no guarantee that an event posted will be SA Approved of when you do post it - and we can't have events that are not approved of being added to the calendar.

Work is proceeding on making an event form for others to fill out and it to be approved of at a later date, however.

Only the Executive Board and staff can add events to the calendar - this prevents people from adding events that are not approved of yet, which would happen otherwise.

If you contact the Council Chair, she can help you with it - I've walked her through adding events to the calendar, and she seems willing to do such a thing for organizations. Use the Contact Form to get in touch with the Chair and let her know the details of the event to put up.

. . . . . . . . . Of course.

Go to the my account page, click on the edit tab, and scroll down and you'll see a Block Configuration box, in that will be the checkbox you're looking for.

You can find them under the Forms menu on this site as a pdf file. You can print them up from there (either with typing in them, or do it by hand). Otherwise you can go to the Student Association Business Office (SUB 428) and get them from across the hall.

An entertainment contract is generally used for getting someone to come on campus and perform something (like say a magician).

Every semester there are elections held for the open seats on the Senate. In order to run in the elections, the first person to talk to would be the Vice President of Academic Affairs and Governance - if they are not managing the elections that semester, then they will find out who is first.

Either way, no matter who it is, there are some pretty specific guidlines as to how the elections need to happen. Currently, they are listed in Article XIV of the bylaws as well as Article XII of the Constitution and Article X of the Constitution. I suspect the rules that will exist, at least until there is a rewrite of the Constitution, would still be located in these places.

I also know that there was discussion of the political parties last semester, so I am cautious about stating the rules here since they are likely to change soon.

SUB 100 for the Spring 2010 semester.

Sorry, just fixed the adviser page so it will let you see the next page to allow them all the be listed. I apologize about that.

It was also decided by the former Council Chair to not have the adviser on the charter forms since it takes an extra step for organizations to do, and he was consistently receiving questions about it - I haven't yet asked the current Council Chair if she would like to add the advisers on the charters again. So right now you're just letting people know this person advises an organization, not connecting that person to yours in any way though.

Whoever submitted the charter will have permission to modify it at a later time, so ask that person to add you on the charter.

The forms themselves are generally not online (with the exception of those that have a blue background - ie the charter form). When you see them, you are looking at a PDF of the form. You can save it, and fill it out whenever you wish afterwords.

There is one bus to and from the poughkeepsie train station and the one through town.

Train station one can be found on that site, and the one in town is available on his site, and goes on a half hour circuit.

There are two options for finding your account number. The first and more traditional way is to go to the Student Association Business Office (SUB 428) and look on the sheet next to the mail boxes (either inside or outside the door). On that same listing is the account numbers of every organization.

The other way - if you were recognized in the preceding Spring as an organization is to look at the current budget and find your line - there is an account number listed there as well.

Each user account on this site needs to have an email address. Well, the user account which was signed in when creating the charter should receive an email at that address letting them know of it.

If you weren't the author of the charter (ie - your email address wasn't used when making the account) you can check the organization list and if you see the organization there, it has been approved of.

Charter is up for approval once it has been submitted and prior to it being listed on the organization list. Generally once a semester per organization.

Contact the Council Chair and she'll do it for you.

Use the Contact Form to send her an email.

Thank you for bringing this to my attention - I'm working on it right now - ideally I'll have this resolved by next week, but intention was for the site to send an email to the user who submitted the charter when organizations are approved of - I just tested it though, and realized it hasn't for one reason or another.

The best way is to get in touch with that organization. Ideally, they've entered contact information on their charter so you can look there to get contact information for someone who is a part of the organization.

Meanwhile, you can also ask the office of Student Activities and Union Services for meeting information.

Lastly you can contact the Council Chair.

You can start an organization on campus by submitting a charter form to the website. See the website category below for more information.

An officially recognized student organization can reserve space on campus for meetings, storage space or events. Officially recognized student organizations can also request money for any events or to go to a conference.

All officially recognized organizations can introduce themselves before the Council of Organizations which meets bi-weekly. The first Council meeting is mandatory for all organizations to attend. Ideally, you'll be able to see the Council of Organizations meetings on the calendar on the front page.

They may also attend all meetings of the Council of Organizations, for which meeting times can be found on the organization list page.

It is also expected that all student organizations will keep their charter information up-to-date on the website. To get help doing that, check the website questions below.

All you have to do is submit this Facilities Use for Scheduled Events (FUSE) form to the Student Activities and Union Services office in the SUB.

The office is located on the side of the Multi-Purpose Room, down the corridor along the left wall, room 209.

All organizations can choose to give contact information on their charter forms for the student body to access. Check the organization list and see if they have it there.

If an organization did not leave contact information, you could always go to the SA Business Office (Student Union Building room 428) and leave a message in the organization's mailbox.

Check this page. If an organization is not listed there or on the previous tab, than it is likely pending approval.

The only people who can add events to the calendar are E-Board members and employees of the SA - this is a precaution to prevent events that are not approved of from being added which would happen all too often if that ability was given quickly.

And actually, today at the E-Board meeting they were discussing that, so expect to soon see events that are approved of added on a routine basis.

See the video embeded below:

See the video embedded below.

See the video embedded below:

This was a really long question so I shortened it above, now will take each part I took out and answer each independently.

I would not be going as part of an organization, but I was wondering if there are travel funds available to individuals as well as groups.

Indeed - any student paying the activity fee (or all students) can make use of the Conference line in the budget.

Is there a form I need to fill out?

Yes - check the menu items above - hover over "Forms" then click on "Conference Request" that will take you to a pdf of the form. Alternativly you can get a hard copy of this from the Student Assocation Business Office (SU 428).

Are funds given in advance, or is it a reimbursement?

That depends...

There are a number of ways in which the Student Assocation can pay for things; the first and most preferred way is through Purchase Orders. A Purchase Order is essentially a sheet of paper with the billing address for the SA on it, and the group will send the bill to the SA at a later time. Not everyone accepts these though, and sometimes it is impossible to tell where you'll be spending the money - like for gas fees for instance.

The second way is by check. Again check with the vendor in advance for this too - To get either of these, fill out a Recquisition Form, and if its a check, be sure to specifically state that on the form.

If (and I presume you are) going someplace, you can pick up the check/Purchase Order the preceding business day to your departure in SU 428 from 9-5.

The last is a reimbursment, and these are essentially forms saying the amount you plan on spending and where at. Once it is approved of, you can know you will be paid back. When you have finished the event, you can come to SU428 with the reciepts and the approved of request, and you will be compensated for either the sum of reciepts or the full amount, whichever is less.

Well, every organization that has existed in the previous Spring semester has a line in the budget. Though that line may be empty, depending on what the leadership of the organization during the previous Spring managed to convince BFC and Senate to approve of.

Also, in some cases, organizations can be added to this budget list mid-year, depending on if the organization needs it.

To get updated on your organization's budgetary status, visit SUB 428 and ask there. (I don't seem to be getting digital copies for the website for whatever reason, so I cannot post it on here).

The thing is, organizations need to submit an initial request for a budget in the Spring semester for the following year to use. The Student Association fiscal year is from July to June, which means all has to be set in advance for where its going to go.

The Budget and Finance Committee takes the first shot at handling the budget. They take all the requests, as well as the total sum of money and distribute it as best they can, at an event referred to as BFC Weekend (though this year it is starting on a Monday...). After that, the different organizations are informed of the budget at Council, and if they wish to make an appeal to the Student Senate, who has to approve of the entire budget before it can be used (this generally is running into finals week for the discussion on it) you'll be able to (appeals are generally done first prior to any actual changes in the budget to make it as fair as possible).

If, say your organization submitted a program and fund request, and it was approved of, and then the money is generally moved to your line so other organizations don't get it prior to it being spent. If your organization doesn't have a line in the budget, it will be created at this point.

A purchase order is something to assure the vendor that we have the finances set aside to cover the expenditures. Afterword, they send a bill to the Student Association, we will send them a check to cover the cost.

The important thing about it is that the payment goes to them after the purchase is made. Thus, if an organization is unhappy with the service or the items provided, we could always not give them the money when they send us the bill. It assures us that people provide what they should. Also, the purchase order request form goes on file to record the transaction for tax purposes, and we can avoid paying state taxes on the item more easily (since we are a part of the SUNY college, a state entity, we avoid state taxes).

Great! First, if you need to, you must reserve a room or space on campus through the Student Activities and Union Services as outlined above.

Now you should look through the Forms menu on the top of the page and get the appropriate forms for your event. All will need the Program Request Form.

You may need to fill out a(n):

• Co-Involvment Form for any other student organization that will be working with yours on the event.
• Requisition Form in order to get Purchase Orders to buy any items for your event.
• Reimbursement Approval Form in order to get items which the vendor does not accept Purchase Orders, or for something to go to an unknown vendor, such as gasoline.
• Entertainment Contract for contracting and paying an entertainer, such as a musician or comedian.
• Service Contract for contracting and paying a guest lecturer or service provider.
• Car Rental Request to rent a car for transportation purposes.

All-right, for programs on campus or items, there are no limits. For events that take place not on this campus check the following bylaws:

Definitions
Funding (subsections G and H)

Ideally, the meetings will be put on the calendar on the front page, but if it is similar to last semester, than Wednesdays at 8:30pm in SUB 422.

For the office house, check the Executive Board page, underneath the VP for Programming, it should list the person's office hours.