Senate denies students funding to present at national conference
Eleven students who qualified to present research projects at a national conference were denied the chance when the student senate refused to fund the trip.
The students would have attended the Central States Communication Association Conference March 27 - April 1 to showcase their research.
“This is a huge opportunity for undergraduate students at NDSU,” said communications professor Deanna Sellnow. “It is also a chance to represent NDSU at this national conference, presenting research.”
The communications department agreed to pay for registration fees for the students, but the group submitted a special projects request to assist in hotel cost.
“This conference is a great opportunity for the students who were selected and NDSU, but we can’t do it on our own,” said Teri Martin, a senior majoring in mass communication.
The finance committee gave students no recommendation for their request.
“The nature of the request didn’t fall into the guidelines of special projects, so we directed them to talk with the entire student senate at the student government meeting,” said Adam Montgomery, student government executive finance commissioner.
Special projects are allotted $15,000 from July 1, 2007 to July 1, 2008. Currently there is $9,188 left in the fund.
Students requested $1,251 at the student government meeting and the request was denied.
“The intent of special projects fund is to assist organizations in covering expenses related to projects and events that can benefit the entire student body,” high-rise senator Robert Foertsch said. “Some could argue that sending kids to this conference could benefit NDSU as a whole, but it is different than what the fund is normally used for.”
Special projects have allotted money to the International Student Association for their Back to School Bash, Bison Ambassadors for Homecoming Coronation and the Institute of Industrial Engineers in hosting the Industrial Engineering Regional Conference March 1-4, 2007.
The eleven students are not giving up, however. They are resubmitting their request to student government a second time on March 4, 2007.
Students found out about the contest through communication analysis. The class is open to any student Sellnow said.
“Anyone can take this course and gain insight into the field, learning about advancements and so forth,” said Andrew Post, a senior majoring in journalism, broadcast and mass communication technologies.
The topic caused debate between senators.
“This request is really a judgment call,” off-campus senator Wyatt Brossart said. “The competition was open to all students though. I asked Dr. Sellnow if I could go and she responded yes.”
Special projects are deemed by merit.
“Merit is a subjective word itself,” Montgomery said.
The research projects Martin and colleagues submitted to the contest consisted of conducting 150 surveys, analyzing results and writing a 20-page paper.
Students presented material to an anonymous panel of judges.
“This took an amazing amount of work and we want to represent NDSU at this conference,” Martin said. “NDSU isn’t usually represented at this conference.”
The research covered a wide variety of communication topics, religion, technologies and relationships, said Erin Haugeberg, a senior majoring in public relations and advertising.
“Anyone could get something out of this competition. Communication affects everyone,” Haugeberg said.