The Student Association allocated supplemental funding of $3,402.30 at its Sunday meeting and approved of one student organization.

Twenty-seven out of 39 senators were present to approve the funding for the NIU B.R.O.T.H.E.R.S. organization and the NIU Equestrian Team. Both organizations were given unanimous approval for their funding.

B.R.O.T.H.E.R.S. sought $1,944.95 to hold their “Fun in the Sun” event right before spring semester finals. The event is designed to help students unwind from the stress of studying.

“I’m pretty happy about it,” said Micah Allison, the Sergeant-at-Arms of the group. “Now we can move forward and take care of business for the rest of the semester.”

The NIU Equestrian Team received $1,457.35 to send two competitors and their coach to a national equestrian competition in Tennessee from April 23rd to the 26th.

“We’re very excited to get this approved,” said Michael Lenard, the president of the group. “Most importantly, we’re just honored to have the approval and support of the Student Association.”

The SA’s remaining budget for supplemental funding is about $34,000.

The student organization that sought approval from the SA was the Public Administration Association, a group that was looking to extend its outreach to undergraduates to provide opportunities to get involved in local government and learn about it. The group received unanimous approval.

“Not many students know what local governments do or how to get involved in it,” said Nicole Lewis, the President of the Public Administrations Association. “We wanted to start an organization on the campus level to let students know how all that works and their votes do count.”

Also speaking on local government was Eugene Smith, 6th Ward Alderman candidate for Tuesday’s aldermanic elections and NIU student, who attended the meeting to ask for the support of the SA and speak on the importance of local government.

“This is a very important race because 50 percent of the ward is made up of students and local politics control the day-to-day lives of people within the city,” Smith said.

Concluding the meeting were nominations for the Speaker of the Senate position for the next year. Four nominations were made as senators Patrick Talley, Jordan Lubbers, Ryan Chambers and Michael Hankla were chosen by their fellow senators.

Elections for the position will be held on the April 19 SA meeting as there will be no meeting on April 12th in observance of Easter Sunday.

April 26th will be the SA’s last meeting of the semester and when they will vote on next year’s budget, which Speaker of the Senate Matthew Venaas estimated would be about $1.3 million for student organizations.