Redbook Section in Question:

Bylaws IV § 2 (1.9),
Bylaws IV § 12 (1-4)

Date:

04/10/2021

Question (Be as specific as possible):

Are there any issue with putting more than $5,000 money toward the Student Scholarship Endowment as required in Redbook? Can excess funds go towards the Student Scholarship Endowment rather than the General Reserves?

Attorney General:

Dallas Blackburn

Text Section in Question:

Bylaws IV § 2 (1.9):
1.9 Five-thousand dollars ($5,000) of student fees will be allocated annually to the ASUU Student Scholarship Endowment to protect the scholarship from long-term effects of inflation. All deposits and donations shall be considered “principle,” and therefore privileged to special protection as defined in “Fund Transfers.
Bylaws IV § 12 (1-4):
1. The General Reserve Fund should be maintained at no less than fifty thousand dollars ($50,000). In the event that the fiscal year-end General Reserve Fund balance is below fifty thousand dollars ($50,000), it must be restored to at least fifty thousand dollars ($50,000).
2. No portion of the principle may be removed or transferred from the Scholarship Endowment, or used for any other purpose except to generate interest. No portion of the Scholarship Endowment interest may be used in any other manner except as provided in these Bylaws. These two conditions may be overridden:
2.1 If approved by three-fourths (3⁄4) majority vote of all seats of the Assembly and three-fourths (3⁄4) majority vote of all seats of the Senate, or
2.2 By executive order, under extreme conditions, and if approved by a simple majority of both the Assembly and Senate operating bodies, and if all other reasonable sources of funding have been constitutionally exhausted, including but not limited to the General Reserve.
3. Any money removed from the Scholarship Endowment must be replaced through the following year’s Annual Budget.
4. No single transfer of funds out of the General Reserve Fund may exceed twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000.00) unless approved by a super majority (3/4) of the Assembly and Senate.

Interpretation:

One of the posed question is whether or not there any issues with putting more than $5,000 toward the Student Scholarship Endowment. According to Bylaws Article IV § 2 (1.9), at least $5,000 must be allocated to the Student Scholarship Endowment annually. This clause also states, “All deposits and donations,” which is critical because these words mean that there can be more than one deposit and donation a year. What is missing from this clause, and the rest of Redbook, is that there are no limits on how much money can be deposited or donated to this fund annually. Thus, if an executive administration wishes, they can allocate more than $5,000 per year to this endowment.

The second posed question is whether or not excess money can be donated to the Student Scholarship Endowment instead of going into the General Reserve. Bylaws Article IV § 2 (1.9) states that fund transfers from the this endowment are protected, and Bylaws Article IV § 12 (1-4) elaborates on what these protections are. Most of these protections pertain to money transferred out of this endowment to the General Reserve. These clauses do not impact the current question. The one clause that does involve the posed question is Clause 1. If the General Reserve is below $50,000 by the end of the fiscal year, then any excess money must go towards restoring it to this minimum amount of $50,000. However, if the General Reserve is at or above the $50,000 minimum requirement, the executive administration can decide to allocate the excess money to the Student Scholarship Endowment.