CSA Chair Confirms SAF Figure After Speaker's Rebuke
Speaker McCann dismissed the claim that Student Government receives 14.7% of the Student Activity Fee, but the CSA Chair later confirmed the figure was accurate.
When student Mason Bindemann cited a 14.7% Student Activity Fee allocation figure during public forum at the November 12 Undergraduate Student Government General Assembly meeting, Speaker Terrell McCann dismissed the number outright.
“No, it’s not. That’s incorrect, sir,” McCann said, suggesting Bindemann should “go and read the numbers” before making claims that could “create sort of an issue within this chamber.”
But on November 30, Council on Student Affairs Chair Kirsten Myers confirmed the figure was accurate. “The 14.7% is all three of the student governments combined,” Myers wrote. “USG is 10.12%, CGS 2.42%, and IPC 2.16% per this last review.”
The 14.7% statistic comes directly from Student Life’s own FAQ and SAF Review documentation.
Myers further clarified that the three governments often receive supplemental funding beyond their baseline allocations, complicating USG’s claim that it only receives “around 7% of remaining funds after fixed costs.”
“If any beneficiary has funds left over… CSA reviews all requests and determines by vote how to allocate those funds,” she explained. “This would be above the 10.12%. This is not guaranteed and would fluctuate from year to year.”
McCann was offered an opportunity to clarify his understanding in a November 16 request for comment. In response, his office declined, stating: “This will be our final word on the subject matter.”
The exchange over the SAF figure occurred in the context of a broader discussion about the July 23 interim budget session, during which senior executive Hayden Price had described legislative deliberation as “an insane and disrespectful waste of everybody’s time.” When asked whether such conduct would be tolerated under current leadership, McCann responded by questioning Bindemann’s factual grounding.
“You brought up a number that Hayden Price said,” McCann stated. “Nobody even fact-checked if what Hayden Price [said] was true. You know? If somebody came and stood before you and told you that the sky was purple, would you believe them?”
