Groups headed to Mississippi for conference

Each of four student organizations who want to attend the same conference will get $500 apiece to send two members, the Allocations Committee decided Friday.

The groups that requested money are the Kent State Voices of Testimony Gospel Choir, Harambee, Kent African Student Association and KSU National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

Each of the groups came to the meeting requesting $816 apiece for four members to attend the 15th National African American Student Leadership Conference in Holly Springs, Miss., on Jan. 16 and 17.

Nikole Keslar, director of business and finance for the Undergraduate Student Government, said the committee did what it thought was best for the entire student body. Multiple groups have never requested funding for the same event.

“The committee looked at it impartially to see how to best spend the money for this one conference,” she said. “They all worked together to come up with what they thought was a good middle ground.”

Adrian Neal, president of Harambee and senator of diversity for USG, disagreed with the committee’s decision.

“Two people just isn’t enough to advance our leaders,” he said. “We should be sending as many people as possible to advance our school’s leaders. That should be our main agenda.”

Whitney Smith, president of KSU-NAACP, said she thinks everyone was tired and frustrated toward the end of the hour-and-a-half meeting.

“Tensions were higher, but it was for a good cause,” she said. “I’m just glad we got our funding.”

Keslar said requests from multiple organizations will be one of the points addressed at this year’s ad hoc session, which is when members review the bylaws and address any problems the committee had during the year.

Contact student politics reporter Nicole Stempak at [email protected].