Senate Overturns Cardinals for Life Donut Appeal
Image courtesy of Eat This not That
By Renee Rasmussen
On Monday, November 1, the Catholic University of America’s Student Associate Government gathered for their biweekly senate meeting. Tensions were unusually high, however, as members of Cardinals for Life (CLF) and Treasury Board (TB) filled the seats reserved for the public audience.
Each group awaited the debate and decision requiring the Cardinals for Life Treasury Board appeal that occurred after the club was denied funding for donuts after Sidewalk Prayer twice. It was now up to the senate to appeal or uphold the decision made by Treasury Board.
To begin this process, Vice President Monica Wallace opened the floor for public comment, limiting each statement to one minute. She also reminded the public to maintain decorum while speaking.
To begin public comment, treasurers Jordan Farrell, Brian Allen, Afia Asare, Maria Duffy, Isa Salazar, and Luke Kelly, reminded all of the issues they found in the Cardinals for Life (CFL) requested budget, the original reasons for denial, and encouraged the senators to vote “no” on the appeal to provide funds for the donuts after Sidewalk Prayer.
Treasurer Michael Staresinic explained one of the reasons CLF was denied funding: “During the second presentation through these CLF allocations, when asked how they arrived at their number for allocation, CLF indicated that they did not actually intend to spend the amount of money they asked for, which is not acceptable for Treasury Board.”
Treasurer Pro Tempore Robert Niro encouraged senators to remain apolitical and reminded senators that the donuts are not seen as essential to Sidewalk Prayer and therefore should not be funded by Treasury Board.
President of Cardinals for Life Nick Swanson explained the reason for the club’s appeal and asked senators to vote in favor.
“Our mission is to promote a sustainable culture of life on this campus and in our community. We appealed this Treasury Board decision because we believe we were treated unfairly. Almost every one of the points that were just made were answered in our appeal letter. But I would like to encourage the members of the senate to vote in favor of this recommendation. It didn’t give up everything we asked for. We’re disappointed about some of the things in it, but it’s a compromise,” Swanson said.
CFL Vice President Sophia Cooke, Co-Advocacy chair Brennan Stone, Co-Sidewalk Chair Maureen Pierce, CFL members Stephen Caulfield, Michael Ippolito, Caitlin Fitzgerald, Catriona Fee, Nicholas Pakaluk spoke in favor of CFL, stating the impact that CFL has on the campus community and the necessity for free donuts after Sidewalk Prayer to promote community and to encourage more students to attend the event.
Fernando Hernandez-Reyes of the public encouraged the senate to vote against the CFL appeal.
After public comment, Senator Gerald Sharpe, chair of the Committee for Allocation Appeals brought forward the recommendation for the Senate regarding the CLF funding and appeal, emphasizing the lengthy amount of time necessary to approve the current resolution and the necessity for compromise between both Treasury Board and CFL.
“Let this decision serve as the ultimate compromise because that’s exactly what this is. Cardinals for Life asked for $468 for 4 dozen donuts over 9 weeks. They asked for $83 for a few dozen donuts over the course of four weeks. That amounts to a little more than $550. This recommendation gives them $156 which covers 2 dozen donuts, one donut each per participation roughly, which covers donuts over the next 6 weeks. This is the ultimate moderate decision,” Sharpe said.
The debate commenced on the committee’s recommendation. Schlee referenced Treasury bylaws, stating that Treasury funds go only to organization events open to the entirety of the student body and that CFL did not openly advertise the availability of donuts neither on the Nest nor on their social media account.
Sharpe responded, stating that these points had been previously taken into consideration by the committee, particularly location and marketing. He stated that the location did not violate the bylaws, since the location was very close to campus and accessible via the Metro, and that off-campus events had been previously supported by the Treasury Board.
He also stated that the marketing effort “was not robust, but it was sufficient,” due to the frequent emails, flyers, and high attendance of 20-30 students per event, consequently justifying the compromised amount.
Senator Michels agreed with Schlee and stated that this would create an unfair precedent for organizations in the future. Sharpe responded that this was also taken into consideration by the committee.
“We’ve had three appeals in the last four years. That did not create any sort of precedent of attitude among student organizations that they could run to the senate to approve the funding that they really wanted. In fact, the Special Committee’s Appeal Process is a very arduous process. This takes hours of planning, hours of paperwork, three sets of bylaws, all three branches are involved; for a student organization to appeal it must take them between 10, 20, 30 hours depending on the size of their request,” Sharpe said.
Senator Lehman commented that, as a senior, she attended many Treasury Board meetings and knew this process well. She said that donuts after Sidewalk are very important to members of CFL since it allows them to build community in a way that praying the Rosary at the Planned Parenthood site is not conducive to creating.
Senator Birth agreed with both Schlee and Michels and stated that she would vote in conjunction with the Treasury Board, saying that CLF has received funding for many large-scale events and that this denial was an acceptable decision.
Sharpe then reminded everyone that Sidewalk is a recurring event and that this funding would provide donuts for every weekend. He reminded the Senate that the $156 would cover six weeks of Sidewalk Prayer, which he believed would be a very frugal amount.
Senator Martin stated that the compromise would create a dangerous precedent to set for clubs in both directions, and argued that since many students already attend the event, incentives might not be necessary, since Sharpe previously mentioned the uncommon success of the event.
Sharpe responded that donuts, “Allows CLF members to process their experience outside the Planned Parenthood facility at a separate location, because at the Planned Parenthood facility they are frequently heckled and hollered at and given the middle finger, and it’s quite disgusting what happens to them.” Sharpe continued, “Allowing them to relocate away from the Planned Parenthood facility once they’re finished with their prayer and have a dollar donut and then build fellowship around the pro-life movement and student organization, we determined is integral to the success of the organization, and by extension the University’s mission.”
Senators Besendorfer and Cunningham likewise lent their support to the Treasury Board and also commented that while the location was close to campus, students already would have to spend money on a metro pass and could opt out on purchasing a donut afterward if needed.
“They do pay for the metro,” responded Sharpe. “However, I don’t see it as ‘Well you pay $5 for the metro, why don’t you just pay an extra $2 for a donut?’ I see it as marginal cost. So the student is willing to make that $5 sacrifice to go to the Planned Parenthood facility and pray. They may not be willing, on top of that, to make the additional cost of the other $1.50 for a donut. And that’s where Treasury Board can come in.”
Senator Anthony Crnkovich commented that Cardinals for Life did provide updated information to the Treasury Board, after providing donuts for the past weekends, showing improved numbers of attendance.
He argued that “to turn around and offer them $0 in spite of the clear and very obvious number they presented, is somewhat savage.”
Crnkovich also reminded senators that CFL had followed the necessary channels and that the difference in the price of donuts as compared to ordering in bulk was minimal; he also dissented from the Board’s conclusion that providing the funding would be an unintelligent use of funds.
Farrell stated that occasionally miscalculations would occur with counting the number of participants and asked Sharpe if his estimation was correct. Sharpe confirmed that occasionally numbers would fluctuate — especially due to the pandemic — but that the majority of attendees would attend both prayer and the Dunkin’ Donuts gathering.
Senator Scott commented on the absurdity of a club obliged to spend weeks of time petitioning the Treasury Board for donuts; he emphasized holding the Treasury Board accountable to their own standards and to remain consistent in its arguments for and against funding.
After almost two hours of debate, the Senate voted on the appeal. With 10 yeas, 14 nays, and 0 abstentions, the appeal failed to pass.
Cardinals for Life members, constituting half of the room, noisily departed, expressing their frustration with the decision.
