The student senate convened on Wednesday to provide new members with the general information on what the Financial Management Board (FMB) and its several subcommittees do to enrich the Notre Dame experience for the student body while still maintaining affordability.
After a few logistical executive announcements were given, the senate transitioned into a breakdown of the components of the FMB and what responsibilities each subordinate organization has in order to provide a rich student life for enrolled Notre Dame students, lasting for the majority of the meeting.
Student Union treasurer Meenu Selvan summarized that the overall purpose and “responsibility” of the FMB is “to maintain the financial health of all the Student Union organizations and to oversee allocations.” The process is naturally very intricate, involving a multifaceted approach and requiring a great deal of cooperation from multiple departments.
The board comprises the Hall Presidents Council (HPC), dorm representatives, the Club Coordination Council (CCC), the Student Union Board (SUB) and class councils. The Hall Presidents Council is responsible for planning, funding and executing individual residence hall events. The Club Coordination Council is delegated for the allocation of funding for Notre Dame student clubs and is responsible for hearing club requests on the behalf of the executive cabinet for more funding. Lastly, the Student Union Board is designated to “enhance undergraduate student life by providing undergraduate student services and social, intellectual and cultural opportunities that respond to the needs and wants of the undergraduate student body in the most efficient manner possible,” as stated in the group’s mission.
Additionally, there is also a senate committee aptly called the Committee on the Budget, which periodically votes on the budget submitted to them by the Student Union treasurer and processes reallocations a few times a year.
The Student Union endowment was established on April 2, 2007 as a response to the rising student activities fees that threatened to make the student experience significantly less affordable, created in order to ensure that the student experience Notre Dame students love would always be affordable.
The Student Union endowment supplements the Student Union budget, and it was and still is largely funded by the carryforward account, which Selvan describes as a “savings account… for anything that’s unplanned,” as well as The Shirt Project (formerly The Shirt Royalty Fund), which provides funding from sales of The Shirt for students with extraordinary medical conditions who have demonstrated financial need requiring payment beyond their means. The FMB uses the endowment money collected from both of these organizations to allocate funding to all undergraduate student organizations.
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