On Nov. 9, the American River College Student Senate discussed Bill F-17, which would allocate $1,000 to the American River Review for production cost for its 2018 edition.
The American River Review is a literary journal published by American River College, and is entirely student-produced. It has won Best in the Nation in the Community College Humanities Association Literary Magazine Competition nine times, and is currently the only literary magazine in the nation to have been granted the award more than twice.
The bill was read for its third time making it eligible to be voted upon, however the senate is concerned about their current financial status.
Student Senate Adviser Juan Blanco broke down the account the donation would come from.
“Think about it this way, if a $1,000 is allocated to the American River Review, that will put this [ASB’s Budget] at $6,600, ” Blanco said.. From there they must subtract $300 for the debugging fee, which was purchased by ASB before the Club and Events Board was up and running.
In addition to the $75 for each time a parliamentarian attends a meeting.“Let’s say there is eight visits or ten visits approximately, so ten times 75 is what? 750. So by the end of this semester potentially would be roughly around $5,000 still in this account.” Blanco said.
There is still a debate as to whether the senate can afford to allocate that much money.
‘We have to remember that we will be approached for more projects and we have to be conscious of where that money goes, so that we have enough to be far to everyone.” said Student Senate President Deborah Hernandez.
Hernandez is not the only member of the senate weary to part with such a large sum.
“I’m also reluctant to give money away… but I think there is a lot more money that we have to spend than is seen in the budget,” Director of Finances Jesse Taylor said.
The money donated would go to the production of the magazine, the materials used and overall quality of the work.
“By adding a $1,000 it’s going to increase the publications amount of color pictures, as well as up’s the type of paper it’s going to be printed on,” said Vice President Earl Crouchley III. This money is what makes the difference between a comic book and a hard copy book he explained.
‘I am aware that maybe you guys aren’t familiar with this book, but it does affect a large portion of students on this campus,” Crouchley said.
The Review does have other outside sources that help to fund the project, in addition to student body which has been funding them for years, Crouchley explained.
“We’ve managed to do this for the American River Review before and never run out of money,” said Senator Laurie Jones who wrote the bill and has served several semester as a student senator.
Due to inconclusive knowledge of the actual funds in ASB’s account, the topic has been tabled until the senate meets again. In hopes that Taylor will get a more conclusive number from the business service office in the intermittent time.
