An amendment to redistribute the Student Union's funding of the midyear graduation ceremony failed at Sunday's Union Senate meeting, Union Treasurer Nick Freeman '07 said. The vote was tied 8 to 8 and a two-thirds majority was needed to pass the change.The Senior Programs Fee, approximately $28,000, Freeman said, pays for Senior Week activities, Junior/Senior formal and a midyear graduation ceremony.

Currently, 3.5 percent of this fee is allocated for midyear graduation, 55.25 percent for Senior Week and 41.25 percent for the Junior/Senior Formal. Freeman and Special Events Coordinator Edgar Ndjatou '06, who headed the proposal, said they hoped to cancel funding for the midyear graduation and reallocate it towards Senior Week and the formal, making 55.75 percent of funding go toward the former and 44.25 percent toward the latter.

"There hasn't been a midyear graduation in years," Freeman said. "There weren't enough people for it to be worthwhile."

Freeman said he and Ndjatou submitted the proposal because the formal, which receives about $1,000 each year, needs more funding. "This year for the umpteenth year Junior/Senior Formal is in financial straits," Freeman said. "They're going to need about 600 people to come to break even."

Ndjatou said Director of Student Activities Stephanie Grimes, who oversees the formal, has to request additional funding from the Senate every year.

Midyear graduation funds are split between Senior Week and the formal when no winter graduation ceremony is held. Because of this, 57 percent of the Senior Programs Fee has gone towards Senior Week in the last three or four years.

Senators were wary of the bylaw change because of concerns over the financial health of Senior Week activities.

Senator-at-Large Robyn Kaplan '06 said that if leftover funds from the lack of mid-year graduation were no longer given to Senior Week, either Senior Week Event prices will increase or certain events will need to be cut.

However, Freeman said that he and Ndjatou will re-propose the amendment next semester to make funding for the formal "secured, but not guaranteed."

Vice President of Students and Enrollment Jean Eddy announced in an e-mail to concerned midyear students recently that the Office of Students and Enrollment would fund a midyear graduation even if the Union does not.