A miscommunication between different executive boards for the Indian Student Association has instigated further investigation from the Student Association.

The problem first arose when the ISA held an Indian New Year event at the South Pointe Centre, 200 Gurler Road, in October. At the event, there was a cover charge to enter. This, however, is against the bylaws for student organizations.

More confusion came when a form, signed by ISA president Joel Mathew and treasurer Parthiv Patel, surfaced. The form states that the executive staff members have read and understood the bylaws.

This form, however, is in effect for the 2002-2003 school year. The point was brought up that last year’s form, signed by the previous executive board, was in effect for this year’s executive board.

The ISA executives were unaware of this.

“The board before us did not tell us anything about what they had done, so we were unaware,” said ISA vice president Mumta Taneja. “We are all new to this, but there was no intent on breaking the rules.”

The finance committee seemed to agree with this statement.

“Although there was an infraction, I don’t believe there was an intent for malice,” Sen. Jeff Meyer said.

ISA Secretary Adam Ghazi reiterated the ISA’s objectives.

“We are the second largest Asian organization on campus,” he said. “We are here to support further activity and take the ISA and the Indian population to new heights. It was all just a misunderstanding.”

Nonetheless, the ISA budget was tabled until further notice, so the miscommunication can be investigated further.

“There was obviously an infraction,” Sen. Kevin Miller said. “Whether it was intentional or not, there should be some punishment.”

Another of the groups up for budget recommendation was the Office of Campus Recreation. The OCR was requesting $201,000 in funding from the SA, which is an increase of 14 percent from the previous budget.

“The biggest issue here is the transportation,” said Amy Fawcett, Intramural Sports Coordinator for the OCR. “After the incident last spring [when a passenger van rolled over en route to an OCR activity], we have limited transportation to go on trips.”

Because of the lack of transportation, the OCR must pay for additional insurance. It also will have to pay the increasing operating costs of the building, which includes maintenance of the equipment.

The other issue the committee had with the increase in the OCR budget was $53,000 to maintain a summer camp for 6- to 12-year-old kids.

The question came from Meyer again.

“As the SA, we have to be concerned that the students are getting as much benefit as possible from the funds we recommend, ” he said.

“This camp consists of camp counselors, who are students of NIU,” Fawcett responded.

The previous debt of $40,000 the OCR experienced was rectified by allocating the money from other accounts the OCR already has, Fawcett said.

Because of the questions posed by the committee, the OCR budget also was tabled until the next meeting.

The next finance committee meeting will be at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Holmes Student Center, Room 306.