The Undergraduate Student Government approved financial expenses for clubs and organizations at its meeting Sunday night, including $2,500 for a stage for PULSE’s holiday performance.

USG usually does not fund a lot of programming, Scharine said.

This was an unforeseen cost in its original budget, Scharine said, because PULSE did not know groups that want to perform in the new Anderson Athletic and Recreation Complex field house must rent a stage.

PULSE also requested money from St. Thomas Activities and Recreation for the event, but the co-operation fell through at last minute.

Margaret Cahill, director of campus life, said the PULSE event is the same night as Scootstock, and STAR cannot fund two events in one night because of its by-laws.

Scharine said “it is in the the best interest in the community to fund this.” He argued that PULSE shows are highly attended, this event has been highly advertised and the admissions office is hosting an overnight that day.

Active Minds requested $250 for its budget and was allocated $250.

Students in Free Enterprise requested $5,316 and received $1,800 for a service learning trip in Mexico. Greg Scharine, vice president of financial affairs, said the group will do a culture and business survey of the Mexican economy.

SIFE will present its results at a USG meeting in the spring semester, Scharine said.

Entrepreneurship Society requested $297 for a conference and was allocated $225.

Tobacco-free campus initiative survey progress

Sophomore Class President Mike Orth discussed the progress on the USG tobacco-free initiative. Orth said as of Dec. 5, about 900 students have responded to the survey, which started last Tuesday, Nov. 30.

The survey will continue until Tuesday, Dec. 7.

“I hope by Tuesday, we have 1,500 people respond,” Orth said.

The survey results will “help us decide how we want to move forward with this initiative,” Orth said.

Theresa Malloy can be reached at mall5754@stthomas.edu.