It was the type of meeting you would expect to see on Capitol Hill, with various factions lobbying for more money and more consideration.

The Student Senate meeting Tuesday took on that feel as organizations fought for money that the Senate appropriations committee doled out last week.

The first complaint was filed by Leadership Consultant Council’s Crain Leadership Conference over keynote speaker fees. The group sought money from the $42,000-plus budget for Student Foundation/Program Council’s Mane Event.

The money was for an increase of $1,000 for the speaker fee for LCC’s September conference that trains on-campus leadership. LCC proposed to take the money away from Mane Event’s headlining performer budget.

“I am offended [by the Senate appropriations for LCC] … It’s simply not enough to make this a strong conference,” Student Body President Jodi Warmbrod said. “Not only should we put our money behind this, but we should put our words behind our money and force every student organization to participate in the conference.”

Program Council and Student Foundation officials argued otherwise.

“A strong headlining act is essential,” Student Foundation President Alex Wolfe said. “That is one of our negotiating tools for getting vendors out there.”

Wolfe also said that his organization was able to find comparable keynote speakers for the Crain Conference for much less.

In the end, LCC, which enjoyed much more support among the Senate population, got $1,500 from the Mane Event after Student Body Secretary Will Elwood amended to fund in full the organization’s original request.

“We’re not in essence taking away; we’re re-allocating money with the hope of working with Mane Event [next year through residuals],” Dedman II Senator Asad Rahman said. “160 organizations will get better because of this. [LCC] is truly benefiting SMU students.”

LCC’s Emerging Leaders program was next to complain that its allocated budget of $98 was unjust.

Proponents argued that Emerging Leaders, a program whose purpose is to hone leadership skills of first-year students, has produced more student leaders than any other program the university offers.

“There’s no other program that has produced more student body officers – more ‘M’ Award winners,” said Mike Waters, a student representative to the Board of Trustees. “This is an investment, not solely in individuals, but also in the university.”

Emerging Leaders chair Cristin Lavelle attempted to get the money from several student organizations, giving the Senate different options.

In the end, Senate decided to appropriate an additional $718 from next year’s rolling appropriations account.

Senate’s final complaint came from Asian Council, which sought funding for an off-campus retreat in early September.

Senate, which does not traditionally appropriate for off-campus retreats, did appropriate $500 for its own off-campus retreat.

Once again, the Senate was given several options for finding additional funding from other student organizations.

The biggest complaint came from the greek community’s $10,000 allocation for CD-ROMs and on-line recruitment tools for the 2002-03 year.

“$10,000 is exorbitant and frivolous, and we would regret it,” Dedman II Senator Michael Dorff said. “We would be taking away from Asian Council.”

Other senators and guests lobbied hard to retain the money already given to the greek community, citing the huge numbers and the developments of CD-ROM recruitment tools at other schools such as TCU and the University of Southern California.

“This is so crucial [for recruitment],” Business Senator April Maule said. “This is not a waste of money. The appropriations committee saw the example and thought it was a great CD.”

Despite impassioned pleas, the Senate did give Asian Council $358 from the greek CD-ROM budget, reducing that total to $9,642.

The other complaints were from LCC Web Training Services, which received $120 from Mane Event’s miscellaneous budget, and from Geology Club, which had its complaint rejected by Senate with the stipulation that it come through rolling appropriations next year.

In earlier proceedings, the Senate heard from business and finance officer Bill Detwiler and SMU Police Department Police Chief Aaron Graves. The two men visited the body to address parking rate increase issues.

“I’ve been here 20 years, and [before last year] I don’t remember the last time we raised parking rates,” Detwiler said. “When we looked at our rates in comparison with other universities, our rates were very low.”

Detwiler said that the surplus the university had last year was used for Moody Parking Garage lighting, the resurfacing of three lots, adding surveillance, adding parking meters, commissioning a parking study and cleaning the garages.

The increase from $150 to $200 for parking annually for students will produce and anticipated $750,000 surplus.