Student group budgets are allocated by the Budget Committee. The members of the Budget Committee are appointed by the Treasurer and confirmed by the Senate. Each semester the Budget Committee evaluates the budget requests of student groups and decides how much to give them, if anything. The plurality of the Student Union budget goes to student groups in one form or another. Money that does not go to groups goes to such things as the Assembly Series, the school councils, and the Student Union operating budget.
Meetings begin with roll call.
Following that, new Senators, if any, are sworn in. Then business begins in full, including requests for money. Two particularly large issues in the last session of the Senate were the yearbook group and alcohol policy. The Hatchet group wanted to bring a yearbook back to the University, which has not had one since the original Hatchet folded in 1992. When the Senate did not prove receptive to the Hatchet, the group sought block funding.