The Undergraduate Student Government (USG) overturned comptroller Jason Ortiz's veto of about $12,000 in funding for the UConn's paintball club Wednesday night in a meeting lasting over three hours.
"Welcome to USG, everybody," Chief of Staff Matthew Burrill said after the deliberations entered their second hour.
The vote on the paintball funding was contentious and close. The senators in favor of overturning the veto - therefore giving the paintball club its funding - won the vote 30 to 12, only 6 percent over the necessary two-thirds majority.
The UConn paintball club is undefeated this year and ranked No. 1 in their conference by the National Collegiate Paintball Association (NCPA). Additionally, they have won three out of the last four national championships. Ken Rusterholz, who is chief operating officer of the club, asserted that the club's prestige and ability to compete would be damaged by a cut in funding.
The positive publicity and recognition brought to UConn by having a very successful team was another reason the club used to argue for an overturn of the veto.
Conversely, Ortiz contended that the expenditure was too high for a club that holds its activities off campus and whose competition team is not open to the students at large.
Ortiz opened the discussion by saying that, while he knew the decision was controversial, there is never a wrong time to do the right thing.
"The veto is an effort to restore the credibility of USG," Ortiz said.
The debate was lengthy and intense. USG members, paintball club members, members of other clubs and other students asked questions and gave their opinions on the issue. Views ranged from denying the funding or cutting the amount requested to giving the club the full amount.
The idea that Ortiz was making value judgments about the group specifically, a concept outside his jurisdiction, was presented by multiple people who supported overturning the veto. USG President Meredith Zaritheny was one of those people.
Zaritheny said that the comptroller was acting outside his role. She also remarked that because the same funding was passed last semester, it would be overturning precedent to take it away.
Ortiz briefly outlined the different levels that funding requests are given. The Paintball Club, as an off-campus activity only open to select students, is a level D request according to the USG funding board guidelines. Ortiz said he would veto any five-figure level D request.
Ortiz said he could not ethically allow the funding to continue.
Rusterholz then took the floor to state his case. Passing around paintball markers and pictures of the team on the covers of paintball magazines and DVDs, Rusterholz disagreed with the classification of the request as level D.
According to Rusterholz, while a couple thousand dollars of the funding would support the competition paintball team's next meet, the bulk of the money, almost $10,000, would be used to buy practice paintballs at nearby Matt's Outback Paintball, the team's practice field.
It was repeatedly stated by paintball club members that these practice sessions are open to the university at large and any student can attend and play after getting in contact with the paintball team.
Rusterholz said the funding won't go to waste.
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