NOTE: The BC does not actually allocate money; it only makes recommendations for the AAS to vote on.  No award is final until voted on by the AAS at its meeting at 830 in the Red Room in Converse Hall.

 1. The Amherst Community Garden requested $50 for food at their upcoming introductory meeting. The BC recommended funding in full.

 2. The Argentine Tango Club requested $10 for publicity and $50 for food for their first meeting. Additionally, they requested $400 for 2 professional tango dancers to perform and help teach at their opening meeting. Lastly, they requested $1250 for their regular instructor’s stipend for half of the semester. The BC recommended full funding.

 3. The Amherst College Italian Club requested $10 for publicity and $30 for Italian pastries for their opening meeting. The BC recommended funding in full.

 4.  The Chinese Awareness Organization requested $10 for publicity and $50 for food for their opening meeting. The BC recommended full funding.

 5. The South Asian Students Association (SASA) has one of the more complicated requests of the night. They requested a total of $3557.95 for a fundraising dinner/movie screening they are hosting on October 4^th. $3000 was requested for Indian food and refreshments for the night. After confirming that the group had actually received quotes from various Indian restaurants in the area and noting the precedent of funding clubs for one large food event per semester in the price range, the BC decided to fund that portion of the request. Additionally, SASA requested $105 for chafing dishes, $105 to rent table linens from Valentine, $50 for paper plates/napkins/cutlery/etc, and $10 for publicity. All of these requests were uncontroversial. The club also requested an additional $40 for larger color posters to be used at the event for decoration. The BC noted past precedent of funding decorations for other large events and decided to fund the posters. SASA also requested $100 for raffle prizes and $17.95 for a roll of raffle tickets to be used for raffles at the event. The BC has never historically funded raffle prizes, and decided against funding these two items. Lastly, the club was advised to return to the BC next week with more precise descriptions and prices of the additional decorations they wish to purchase for the event. Altogether, the BC recommended $3340 in funding.

 6. The Amherst College Democrats requested $125 for a Barack Obama Support Pack, which includes buttons, stickers, bumper stickers and signs, for their upcoming canvassing trip to New Hampshire. $10 for publicity for the even was also requested.  The BC recommended funding in full.

 7. Circus requested $10 for publicity for their first meeting. The BC recommended funding in full.

 8. The Historical European Martial Arts Club requested $300 for dues to the Association of Renaissance and Medieval, $900 for their instructor’s semester salary and $10 publicity for their first meeting. The BC recommended full funding.

 9. The Amherst Water Polo team requested $180 for new water polo balls. When they submitted their club budget last semester they typed $20 for balls instead of $200 and no one seemed to notice. The original $20 they were allocated did not allow them to buy even one ball. The BC recommended funding in full.

 10. The Indicator requested $60.40 for food and $10 for publicity for an upcoming forum they are hosting in conjunction with AmhPub to discuss the Amethyst Initiative. This led to some controversy in the BC as it does not typically fund food except for first meetings and large food events. Representatives from the Indicator advocated that this forum was designed to raise awareness about the Indicator and AmhPub in addition to the Amethyst Initiative, essentially acting as a first meeting. They also noted that they had not had an “introductory” meeting per se this semester and have only had meetings to think of article ideas. After some healthy debate, the BC decided to recommend $50 for food (the typical ceiling) and $10 for publicity while strongly encouraging the Indicator to find an alternative source to fund the food since they had mentioned that the Amherst administration was both involved in and excited about this event.

Philip Johnson, ‘11