Senate approves KSCR funding

The Undergraduate Student Government Senate awarded KSCR, USC’s student-run radio station, a total of  $4,396.50 Tuesday to fund a student trip to a music conference and an upcoming concert hosted by the station.

KSCR requested funds from senate allocations because the radio station was previously denied funding from the USG funding board.

Senators discussed in detail KSCR’s application for funding to send members to attend the South by Southwest Music Festival in Austin, Texas over spring break. The cost is $595 per student to receive what the conference calls a “music badge” and attend networking conferences with music industry officials and artists.

“Badges are expensive for a reason … they wouldn’t be charging that much if it wasn’t worth it,” said Katrina Bouza, a senior majoring in screenwriting and a representative for KSCR. Bouza is also a writer at the Daily Trojan.

The Senate provided funds for a group of students to attend the same conference in New York City last year.

This year, however, some senators were skeptical about sending students again to the same conference.

“It sounds like the same thing … I feel like they can get those resources on campus,” senator Jane Doh said. “They can benefit more by attending those classes instead of paying $600 to attend one conference.”

Still, others saw the value in helping KSCR attend the event.

“Everyone in the industry comes there and it’s like the most insane form of networking possible,” senator Hayden Coplen said.

Senator Juan Orjuela made a motion to amend the request to fund the amount of $2,380, which would buy four music badges instead of KSCR’s request for ten. After buying four badges, the fifth badge is supplied by the conference for free. The senate approved the amendment and voted 8-3 to fund the request.

USG also voted 11-0 to fund $2,061.50 for KSCR Fest 2010, a music concert and arts festival scheduled on March 28, 2010 at USC. A total of six bands will play and the concert is open to all USC students and the community. KSCR representatives said they expect more than 500 people to show up.