By Elise Foley and Paul TakahashiThe Daily Northwestern

ASG doled out $911,588 to 43 student organizations on Wednesday night – putting it $8,713 in debt, with three organizations still left to go.

Next week, the Associated Student Government will finish distributing money to the remaining organizations and then adjust its decisions to pull itself out of debt.

At the five-and-a-half hour meeting, students debated funding recommendations by the Student Activities Finance Board, ASG’s financial arm. The board advises ASG on how to distribute money each year to most of Northwestern’s student groups. The ASG Senate makes final decisions.

Last week, student groups received the board’s recommendations, and groups’ representatives attended the meeting to ask the Senate to vote for more funding. In addition to 38 student groups, there were eight alliances formed by groups that were competing for money from ASG’s $855,455 funding pool.

ASG obtains the money every year through the Student Activities Fee, which students pay along with tuition.

ASG did not cut from any group’s recommended funding but discussed at length about adding money to certain groups.

Fiedler Hillel Center received a $25,000 increase over the $2,775 it was originally recommended, the largest addition so far.

Andrea Katz, Hillel’s vice president of internal affairs, said the group’s track record – bringing speakers, such as Sarah Silverman and Jon Stewart – warrants the extra funding, which they hope to use to bring another celebrity, such as Steven Spielberg or Debra Messing.

“We’ve successfully reached out to our own community and created buzz around the entire campus,” the Weinberg junior said.

More than $7,200 was given to Alternative Student Breaks, which was not recommended by SAFB for any funding.

Alternative Student Breaks was originally not recommended for funding because their events occur during breaks from school, and funds are intended to go to programming during the academic year, said Financial Vice President Aneesa Arshad, a SESP junior.

“Would you allocate funds to subsidize (costs) for every student that goes on Ski Trip?” asked board member Kunal Kumar, a McCormick senior. “No. So why allocate funds to ASB?”

Alternative Student Breaks leaders defended their history of funding from ASG.

“ASB has been A-status since 1998, and we weren’t recommended for funding until 2004,” said outgoing Program Director Paul Overmyer, a Weinberg senior. “The Senate has always sided with ASB.”

An alliance formed by groups in the Student Theater Company received $7,900 toward purchasing lighting equipment. The board did not recommend funding for the project, but the ASG Senate voted to approve the additional funds.

“We need to take a minute and realize how revolutionary this is,” said Senator Ashley Meyers, a Weinberg freshman. “Think about how much money of the (Student Activities Fee) we throw away each year on rental fees and things that sit in storage half the year.”

Other groups were less fortunate in securing additional funding. Flicker Film Festival was denied their request for $1,500 in additional funds, in part due to previous financial misconduct.

During Fall Quarter, one of the group’s board members forged a signature to transfer money into the group’s account. The member was asked to resign and the board has all new members, but SAFB member Suchit Dash argued that they still should not be given additional funding.

“Flicker Film Festival went through financial misconduct,” the McCormick senior said. “To be financially responsible, they need to take small steps to get back to where they were.”

Reach Elise Foley at [email protected].

Reach Paul Takahashi at [email protected].