The University of North Florida Student Government committees met last Friday to review the 2026-2027 Activity and Service Fee Budget, approve funding requests, appoint an associate justice, and discuss the questions for February’s Osprey Voice.
The Rules and Oversight Committee (R&O) and the University and Student Affairs Committee (USA) also reviewed title revisions in accordance with their respective policies and procedures.
Rules and Oversight Committee
The Rules and Oversight Committee (R&O) approved the appointment of Criminal Justice major Tais Fernandes to the judicial branch as an associate justice.
In a speech to the Senate body, Fernandes referenced her involvement in UNF’s Brazilian Student Association (BRASA UNF) and experience as an events assistant at the Student Union in relation to her leadership skills.
When asked by Senator Hunter Hayes how she defines leadership, Fernandes said she would like to be involved in situations that no one else would want to take on. If confirmed as an associate justice, Fernandes also said she would prioritize facts over beliefs.
When Hayes asked whether she had read the statutes and titles for the judicial branch, Fernandes admitted she had not yet read all the responsibilities.
Though Hayes voted no for Fernandes’ nomination following her response, R&O Committee Vice Chair Nevaeh Perez said that Fernandes should be given more time to continue learning her judicial responsibilities.
“I think it’s really important to think about student government as a place for students to learn and gain practical experience,” said Perez.
Senate President Pro-Tempore Winter Slaughter also agreed with Perez’s sentiment if Fernandes were to be appointed.
Three votes passed Fernandes’s appointment, with one opposing vote from Hayes.
During the R&O meeting, the body discussed changes to Title IV of the Student Government Constitution. One of the proposed revisions was that members of the UNF Senate body during budget hearings could receive an absence point if absent, as recorded in the initial or final roll call, for missing meetings.
Budget hearings are held every spring ahead of the Activity and Service Fee Budget.
According to Title XI of the SG Constitution, “Each year Agency Budgets shall be zero-based and reviewed by the B&A Committee who shall report their findings and make appropriate recommendations to the Senate.”
“I believe the budget hearings are such an important thing we do in the Senate,” said Slaughter. “This should be a thing that all senators are required to go to.”
Senators who accumulate six or more absence points, even after appealing to the R&O Committee, will be subject to the removal process, according to SG. Slaughter proposed that senators reduce their absence points by volunteering for events with written approval from the Senate President and the Senate Pro-Tempore.
The bill was passed unanimously and will be subject to Senate approval.
Budget and Allocations Committee
During their meeting, the B&A Committee approved a special request for the Ceramics Guild and a travel request for z/Ospreys.
Afterwards, UNF Student Body Treasurer Katherine Toro Villanueva and Associate Director Jason Edgar of SG’s Business and Accounting Office reviewed the 2026-2027 Activity and Service Fee Budget.
The Fencing and Hema Club was also on the committee’s agenda, but no representative was present, so their special request was not heard. The B&A committee will table or postpone the special request until further notice.
Below are the travel requests the committee approved, along with the amounts requested.
Ceramics Guild: $1,800
z/Ospreys: $1,989.47
Representatives for the Ceramics Guild said they will use the funds to host Karina Mago, a visiting Venezuelan ceramic artist whose work spans ceramics, painting, and printmaking, for a workshop.
According to their presentation, hosting an artist like Mago will provide UNF students with access to professional artist connections and encourage creative practices beyond regular coursework. Mago is expected to visit UNF on April 1 for the workshop and give a lecture on April 2.
“Karina is going to show us how she makes most of her work, and it’ll provide hands-on experience for us to implement those techniques into our own art,” said one of the Ceramics Guild representatives.
The B&A unanimously approved the special request.
President Daniel Thompson of z/Ospreys said that the money from the proposed travel request will help five students attend a supercomputing manufacturing and research workshop in Poughkeepsie, New York, from March 23 to 26.
Funds will be allocated for the students’ transportation and lodging, according to Thompson.
According to Thompson’s PowerPoint presentation, z/Ospreys is UNF’s mainframe enterprise computing club. By attending the workshop, students can meet with professionals from technology companies such as International Business Machines Corporation (IBM).
IBM is a multinational technology and consulting company that focuses on supercomputing, artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and cybersecurity.
“IBM has been a big source of hiring for recent graduates from the [UNF] School of Computing,” said Thompson.
Senator Hunter Hayes expressed some uncertainty about how the event would benefit the entire UNF student body and asked Thompson how the workshop’s success would be measured.
“I was finding, after some questioning about how this benefits the student body, to be inconclusive,” said Hayes.
Senator Benjamin Shmia disagreed and believed the workshop would benefit the student body.
“If students who go to this event get internships, that’s just a good thing,” said Shmia. “It helps make UNF look good in general.”
B&A Committee Chair Hazel Joseph, Senator Brock Varzaly and Treasurer Villanueva abstained from voting due to being members of z/Ospreys. The travel request passed with six votes, with Hayes casting the only opposing vote.
2026-2027 Activity and Service Fee Budget
During the discussion of the 2026-2027 Activity and Service Fee Budget, Treasurer Villanueva highlighted that the biggest changes were the rise in OPS (Other Personnel Services) wages and the reduction in the total A&S from $6,121,419 to $5,959,525.
UNF SG 2026-2027 Activity and Service Fee Budget breakdown:
Student Union: $1,199,612
Osprey Student Conduct Advisors: $11,231
Lend-A-Wing Food Pantry: $93,430
Office of Student Life: $723,827
Student Conference Travel: $35,000
Student Wellness Complex: $1,204,363
Eco Adventure: $286,772
Aquatics Center: $30,131
Osprey Involvement Center: $106,353
Club Funding: $41,000
Student Government/Executive: $177,554
Student Government/Legislative: $64,072
Student Government/Business & Accounting: $1,005,768
Student Government/Judicial: $15,581
Student Government/Elections: $25,859
Black Student Union: $7,000
Pride Club: $7,000
Special Requests: $65,000
Business Overhead: $490,921
Spinnaker Media: $2,000
Total A&S Indexes: $5,959,525
During the budget discussion, Slaughter asked why the Office of Student Life budget has not increased. According to the budget document sent by Villanueva, the current Office of Student Life’s budget exceeds its 2025-2026 budget. However, it is about $50,000 less than the 2023-2024 budget, which allocated $774,588.
“Why are we not helping Student Life?” said Slaughter. “This is what attracts people to our school.”
According to a Student Life representative, the organization is primarily funded by A&S fees and is not always granted additional funds amid inflation.
The Office of Student Life is responsible for encouraging UNF students to participate in on-campus events that promote school spirit and social development throughout the fall, spring, and summer semesters.
Slaughter expressed concern that Student Life would need a larger budget to continue hosting large events such as OzFest in the upcoming years.
After the discussion, the budget was passed unanimously with seven votes. The Activity and Service Fee Budget Bill will be subject for approval at the next SG Senate General Body meeting on Feb. 27 in the Senate Chambers.
The University and Student Affairs Committee
During the USA meeting, senators compiled questions for the February Osprey Voice survey. The survey topic was chosen at the last USA meeting and will focus on burnout and satisfaction with academic breaks.
February’s Osprey Voice will have nine questions in total and students should expect to receive the survey soon, according to USA Committee Chair Shipton Macdonald.
Macdonald also proposed changes to Title XII, the statutes of the USA Committee. One of the changes Macdonald wanted to implement was aimed at Osprey Voice, requiring every senator to expedite each Osprey Voice.
If a senator fails to attend an Osprey Voice without formal notice of absence 24 hours prior, the proposed revision calls to administer an absentee point.
In addition, there were revisions to the events that the USA Committee is responsible for organizing. Instead of Finals Frenzy, the proposed revisions place the USA committee responsible for organizing Midterm Madness, a weeklong schedule of events in March that aligns with the academic calendar.
The main goal of Midterm Madness is to provide resources and events to help students during midterms, according to the USA committee.
The proposed title revisions were unanimously passed and are subject to Senate approval.
What’s Next?
The SG Senate will meet Friday, Feb. 27, at noon in the Senate Chambers (Bldg. 58E, Room 3200).