The Student Senate voted to approve the release of funds for upgrades to Campus Recreation that had been suspended last year at its Wednesday meeting.

The funds totaled $18,349 and included software updates for $9,500, a PowerMill machine for $5,899 and a rowing machine for $2,950.

Derek Pierce, student vice president for student affairs, said the funds had already been approved last year. “The reason we had to re-approve the equipment was because during the previous fiscal year, when they approved those funds, that was during the university-wide equipment freeze,” he said. “So they were never able to actually purchase those.”

Student Senate member Kevin Flasch said he thought Campus Recreation would benefit especially from the PowerMill machine, also known as a StairMaster.

“They typically tend to get used up, and there’s only two of them. They’re probably one of the greatest forms of cardio you can do,” he said.

The bill was passed unanimously.

Sarah Daugherty, the program director for Campus Recreation, said the software updates will provide greater versatility for the staff.

She said Campus Recreation currently uses software hosted on campus to lend out equipment, manage faculty and staff memberships and swipe students in to the facilities.

The software purchase is an upgrade to a web-hosted version.

“We could use it at the intramural fields, we could use it out on the golf club course … We would have access to it no matter where we are,” she said.

This software would also help intramural supervisors verify student identities more easily, she said.

Daugherty said the upgrade will cut down on problems related to having the software hosted on campus, like servers going down.

“It’s really about internal management for us and making sure that we have a seamless process for our students and our patrons when they come into the facility,” she said.

Pierce also mentioned there will be an Apportionment Board meeting Thursday. The University Board will give a final presentation regarding potential cuts to student organizations.

“Right now the allocations that are being requested are higher than the amount of student fees that we think we’re going to have,” Pierce said.

Pierce said the budget is at the discretion of the Apportionment Board, and he did not know yet whether and how cuts will be made.

“The cuts could be all to one organization, or it could be an even distribution across the board percentage-wise,” Pierce said.

Organizations such as the Student Recreation Center, the University Board and the Student Government vote on the amount of funding and give suggestions to the Apportionment Board as to where cuts should be made.

The Student Senate also formally approved the creation of a new registered student organization called Creatives.

The RSO is for those seeking entrepreneur or talent development experience and networking.

Leon Mire can be reached at 581-2812 or lkmire@eiu.edu.