It will cost about $250 to change the name of the Student Confederation to Student Government, according to Secretary Jamie Rea. Most of the costs of the change are already built into the budget, and none of the money used for programming will be used for the name change.
"It costs money, but it's money that's already factored in," Rea said. "The expenses incurred in the name change will not be problematic."
New stationery, envelopes and other supplies with the SC logo are purchased every year, so they are already in the budget. Other costs include a domain name for the SC Web site (currently www.studentconfederation.org) that costs about $8-$20 and a new banner that costs about $220.
Rea said she was unsure of the cost of replacing the SC decals on the American University Transit Organization's vans.
These items could be factored into the Department of Publicity and Recruitment's $5,500 budget and Information Technology's $3,500 budget, over which Rea has signatory power. These are portions of the $540,000 the SC receives from Student Activities each year.
SC's budget comes from the $73.50 undergraduate activity fee included with tuition.
When the General Assembly met on Nov. 14 to approve the constitution, part of the bill appropriated $2,000 "from the Student Confederation restricted account in order to properly update the names of the student government and legislation on all items bearing their names..."
However, the item was struck from the bill for procedural reasons. Comptroller Moamar Tidjani-Dourodjaye explained that the GovOps committee does not have the authority to appropriate money in this way. In order to access the restricted account's $48,000, the Finance Committee and then the GA must give approval.
Ben Murray, chair of the Committee on Government Operations, which wrote the bill, said that he included the figure because he thought that it was an appropriate amount.
"I wrote the bill and included the figure based on an understanding that it would be sufficient," he said.
During the meeting, members of the GA attributed the figure to Rea, including Joe Gallina, chair of the Finance Committee.
"I even said Jamie quoted that figure, but that is what I had heard from a lot of people," Gallina said.
He intends to investigate exactly how much the name change will cost.
"I want to make sure the amount is substantiated and reasonable," he said.
Rea said she could not attend the meeting for personal reasons and she was not sure why members of the GA thought she was the origin of the figure. Rea said she had spoken to Murray about the cost of changing the name before he wrote the bill.
"I remember him bringing it up and I probably said 'not much,'" she said. "'No more than $2,000' is probably what I said."
SC President Polson Kanneth said that a name change is necessary because "confederation" has negative connotations and might give some people the wrong impression, The Eagle reported Nov. 15. Kanneth attended the six-hour GA meeting during which the constitution was discussed. He did not object to or clarify the proposed $2,000 cost at that time.
Administrators also favor the name change.
"Cost isn't the only factor in the name change," said Gail Hanson, vice president of Campus Life. "A number of [members of the administration] pointed out to [the SC] that with the changes that have gone on in the last few years, they're no longer a confederation."
A number of cultural and social organizations used to be "under the umbrella" of the SC, she said, but now they are separate entities.
Karen Gerlach, director of Student Activities, also supports the name change.
"A change of name is a nominal cost to the organization, but a needed one, as the name 'Student Confederation,' in my opinion, does not adequately represent the organization," she said. "The organization is a student government, not a confederation."
Students will have a chance to vote on the constitution Dec. 8. For more information on the vote, see Page 3. For more information on the new constitution, see the Nov. 15 edition of The Eagle at www.TheEagleOnline.com.
