Fall Festival dominated the conversation at the weekly Associated Students Union meeting today in AA-207.

ASU President Antone Agnitsch said, “Really there is no budget (for Fall Festival).”

Agnitsch presented the board with an estimate from the company Astrojump for multiple inflatable activities to take place at Fall Festival.

“I’m going to tell them (potential Fall Festival vendors) our budget is a lot less than it is so we get a good deal,” he said.

Agnitsch said it would cost $1,000 per day for the ASU to have a “wrecking ball” game where students would hurl inflatable medicine balls at each other, a gladiatorial jousting game, an inflatable bounce house for children at the Early Learning Center and an inflatable obstacle course for older students.

ASU Secretary Diksha Chhetri said, “We have all these activities for boys, why don’t we have something specifically for women?”

Chhetri went on to suggest, and volunteered to research what it would cost, the ASU have a nail-art and henna station for female students to enjoy.

The idea was met with approval all around the board.

“I like that idea,” Agnitsch said. “If that’s something you guys (the ASU board) want, just go get estimates.”

ASU Executive Vice President Huong Vu said she contacted the San Francisco-based company Photo-matica about renting a photo booth for students. She said the cost would vary depending on the length of time they wanted the photo booth during each day of the Fall Festival. She said the ASU should consider the option that allowed for four hours per day at the cost of $750 per day.

Anushma Maharjan, who was voted in as the ASU’s newest senator during the meeting, said she knows someone who works as a DJ, and may be willing to work the Fall Festival.

ASU adviser Ericka Greene said Maharjan should get an estimate from her friend, but warned that it must be an official looking document.

The subject of food at the Fall Festival advanced little at the meeting. ASU treasurer Zoey Li suggested the ASU serve hot dogs, candy apples, cupcakes, popcorn and cotton candy. Agnitsch, however, pointed out that without a food handler’s license, no one on the ASU could “serve” anyone food.

“We should have an outing one day where all of us (on the ASU board) should get our food handler’s licenses,” Agnitsch said.

Debate broke out during the meeting over whether the ASU should adopt an official budget for Fall Festival, in order to have more information to work with vendors. Agnitsch was against the idea, saying he wanted to begin negotiating with vendors immediately.
Safi Ward-Davis, ASU vice president of club affairs, motioned to table the discussion after she and Agnitsch went back and forth in debate over the prudence of a budget.

The ASU took the time to approve the payment of invoices for their ASGA trip to Washington, D.C., later this year. The ASU’s budget for the trip was $7,500.

The invoices the ASU voted on at today’s meeting were; the registration costs of $399 per person, the per diem allocations for food money, which came to $192.50 per person, and the cost of their flight from Jetblue, which is $509.07 per person. The costs workout to $1,527.21 for airfare, $577.50 for a week’s worth of food and $1,596 for registration.

Ward-Davis gave her report from the weekly InterClub Council meeting. She said this week’s was the first meeting, and it involved mainly laying out the bylaws and rules for a club.

One rule of note she mentioned was every club’s requirement to put on two events per semester for students.

The ICC meets every Tuesday in HS-101 from 2-4 p.m.

Ward-Davis said at the end of the meeting that the ASU needs to investigate issues with parking meters on campus. She said the meter in Lot 10 did not accept cash, and the meter in the parking lot near the Student Services Center was taking student money without dispensing tickets.