Sunday’s Student Association Senate meeting featured three bills to approve supplemental funding for three different SA recognized organizations.

The first was N.A.T.I.O.N.S., the Native American organization on campus. It was requesting $8,000 from the SA to help pay for the All My Relatives: First Annual Conference of Indigenous Wisdom.

“We had to come back to get supplemental funding for this conference,” said Sam Bandy, president of N.A.T.I.O.N.S.

The conference will feature a number of speakers who will speak on a couple of possible topics.

N.A.T.I.O.N.S. representatives said they were unsure of the date of the conference and were unable to include it on the normal budget submitted to the SA, which prompted the supplemental funding. Funding was approved by the senate.

The senate next considered granting what women’s rugby called “emergency funding.” The team requested $1,850 to pay for coverage from USA Rugby, lining of the rugby field and to pay for Southern Illinois University’s All Fool’s Tournament, said Kacey O’Brian, president of women’s rugby.

O’Brian said the reason for the supplemental funding was because they had lost funding because their treasurer failed to attend the SA budget meeting. They said they were unaware of the problem.

“No one contacted us ’til last year,” said O’Brian. The supplemental funding request was passed unanimously by the senate.

The third and most wildly debated supplemental funding bill was for the Trio Association. Trio members requested $4,380 to help pay for a trip to a four-college tour.

Senators raised objections focusing on the amount Trio was asking for.

“It’s a heck of a lot of money we’re looking to spend here,” said Senator Billy Nickol.

Senator R.J. Gravel recommended that the SA not allocate more money per student going on the trip than each student would pay in student fees.

“The issue is the fact that the organization needs the money,” said SA Treasurer Shaun Crisler.

Trio President Channa Bush declined to comment on the debate. The bill passed 14-8-9.

The senate also approved to allocate funds for “Meet the Senate Night,” but did not approve a bill to recognize March 6 as the date for the meeting.