The ASI board of directors met Wednesday, Oct. 1 to decide organizational and budget issues, but were mired by confusion and lack of preparation.

At the start of the meeting, BSS Representative Michelle Montoya moved an action about the status of the Green Committee to the top of the agenda.

Immediately after, other action items were moved to the front of the list. When questions were raised about the budget documents supplied by the Finance committee, the meeting was derailed.

Creative Arts Representative Chris Knox asked that a vote about proposed budgets be tabled until the following week, so board members would have time to decipher the documents.

The board decided to vote as quickly as possible for the benefit of activities and groups waiting for funding.
After more than 12 minutes of discussion, Knox confronted fellow board members asking if they could explain what a single letter ‘i’ indicated about the subject it marked. The board members, including Vice President of Finance Sharef Al Najjar, were at a loss to explain the ubiquitous letter.

The vote was passed, regardless of Knox’s questions, but when the board returned to the meeting agenda the executive assistant documenting the meeting minutes asked which issue on the agenda the board was discussing.

There was a moment of pause as all board members got themselves on the same page.

The budgets were passed and the board moved on from that point. Board President Natalie Franklin asked that future documents containing a wealth of data be submitted to board members before meetings so it could make informed decisions.