Three Student Government Association officers claim the summer senate awarded student funds to an ineligible sorority.

The summer senate on July 3 awarded a $500 scholarship to the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority. Vice President Jessica Richardson, Treasurer Samantha Craig and Secretary Clay Branton say the sorority was not eligible for the scholarship because AKA was not an active organization.

Additionally, they say the senate did not follow proper procedure when awarding the scholarship.

AKA became inactive two years ago because of “rushing issues,” according to Amanda May, the SGA adviser. The University gave permission in the fall of 2011 for the organization to return, pending approval of the sorority’s national office.

This summer, the University received word from the AKA regional office that the sorority could again take in new members, according to officials in the Student Life office. It became fully active again on Aug. 21.

“The organization was not in bad standing with the university, only with the national office,” May said in an email. “When the summer senate was meeting, they expressed that this would improve the campus having more organizations on campus.”

However, May also said the sorority was not in active status when it received the scholarship.

The officers say the sorority should never have been given the money because only active registered student organizations can receive RSO scholarships. The student policy handbook says inactive organizations may not “seek funding from campus entities.”

“These are student funds that are being used for a chapter that’s not even chartered on this campus,” Craig said. “My main problem is we have no idea what this money actually went to.”

The RSO request forms provided by SGA President Calvin Stafford show that Jhonniece Meeks, the lone remaining AKA at ULM, asked for the scholarship to “bring my [Meek’s] membership to a financially active status and attend a mandated conference in Shreveport.”

She said $250 would go to her financial status, $175 to conference registration and $75 for a hotel room.

Though the scholarship funded Meeks’ membership and conference fees, SGA wrote the check to the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority and paid on July 26, according to the check request form for the University controller’s office.

Despite the senate’s decision, the three officers, who were not part of the summer senate because of scheduling conflicts, said proper procedure was not followed in awarding the scholarship.

They say RSO scholarships cannot be awarded in the summer unless applied for in the spring. The by-laws and constitution make no mention of RSO scholarships. The constitution does say SGA shall adhere to all rules set forth in the student policy manual, which has a section on RSO scholarships.

The only SGA documents mentioning them are on the RSO request form, which does not include the summer. It does say SGA can rollover unused funds.

May said one scholarship allotted for the spring was unused, so it rolled over to the summer session.

They also say the proper forms to bring a motion to the floor were never filled out. Instead, the summer secretary, Christina Gray, hand-wrote a motion on a looseleaf sheet of paper and submitted it.

Gray confirmed she did submit the motion on a looseleaf sheet of paper.

She also said she voted in favor of the motion because she “thought it was a good cause.” She says she now questions whether the senate followed proper rules.

One breach in the constitution might have occurred when Gray voted on the motion. Article II, Section 5, Part D says the secretary “does not vote in senate meetings.”

Gray says a role call vote was taken, which is appropriate when awarding money. The minutes, however, are vague in that it shows only the tally – four yeses, one no and one abstention.

The minutes also do not record who introduced the motion to the floor or which senator seconded it.

Richardson said all motions distributing money are to be tabled for a week before voting on it. The motion to award the scholarship was introduced and voted on in the same meeting.

Article V of the bylaws says “motions must be presented and displayed inside the SGA office by Wednesday noon in order to be considered proposals at the following Tuesday night meeting.”

Exceptions are made if it is emergency legislation. The minutes do not indicate if the RSO legislation was emergency legislation.

May said the senate acted within proper bounds and SGA will not seek to recoup the scholarship.