The ASUAF Senate decided not to match ROTC funds raised for Hurricane Katrina relief during their meeting last Sunday at the Hess Rec Center. The senate also had first reading of a bill that would cut Club Council funding to less than half of its current budget.

There was a high turnout of students supporting the measure to overturn the controversial veto of a bill that would have allocated up to $550 of ASUAF funds as a matching contribution to funds raised by the ROTC Cadet Club. The money would have gone to purchase school supplies for elementary school students displaced by the recent hurricane activity in Louisiana and along the Gulf Coast, notably Hurricane Katrina.

The measure had originally passed by a vote of 7 to 6 on Sept. 25, but was vetoed by ASUAF President Joe Blanchard the following day. After a substantial amount of student testimony, which was described by Senate Chair Patrick Frymark as, "the biggest turnout to a senate meeting in the two years and five meetings that I have been involved," there was a heated debate between the senators and executives themselves.

The measure finally came to a vote, but was rejected 7 to 8, with 6 abstentions. It would have required a two-thirds majority of the present senators to override the veto.

The second issue raised was the reallocation of Club Council funding to the Senate Projects account. This would take money from the student organizations and clubs that draw on Club Council funds and give it to the senate to use at its discretion. The bill would reduce Club Council funding from $11,000 to $4,000, with the additional $7,000 moved to senate projects. This is likely to be a highly controversial move, and the bill has been sent to the Senate's Executive Committee. The Committee meets Monday mornings at 8 a.m., after the Sun Star's press deadline.

"I'm here to make sure that students get what is rightfully theirs, and I can't let this happen," said Dani Carlson, Student Body Vice President and Chair of Club Council. "I think that students need to be made aware that radical changes are being considered to the way their money is being spent."