Representatives from CUB received funding for its first spring carnival. (Kate Stronczer / Photo Assistant)

The Student Finance Board unanimously approved the College Union Board’s request for $85,000 this past Wednesday to fund the College’s first annual spring carnival, which will be held on Friday, April 29.

CUB’s proposals for previous carnivals over the last two years were struck down, but this year’s plan was approved by SFB because it was more complete, members said. The lawn and parking lots outside of the Brower Student Center will be transformed for the carnival, complete with field games, rides, food tents, mini golf, caricaturists, balloon artists, stilt walkers and more.

Admission to the carnival will be free of charge for students from the College, who will receive a wristband upon arrival granting them access to all the rides and games, as well as two meal vouchers worth $3 each, which can be redeemed for food from any of the food vendors. Non-students are welcomed to buy a wristband for $10 which will allow access to rides and games, but food and drinks are not included.

Both SFB and CUB are hoping to make the spring carnival a legacy event, comparable to Rutgersfest, that students from the College will be able to look forward to every year.

Because this will be the carnival’s first year, SFB was approved to use money from its reserve fund, which contains $850,000, to finance the carnival so that no money is taken away from other student activities and events that are currently built into the budget.

If the carnival is a success, however, expenses for the carnival will have to be built into SFB’s budget in the years to come, which means that SFB may have to cut back funding for some other activities and events throughout the year.

SFB also approved CUB’s request for $29,732 for a board game-themed late night event in the student center on Saturday, March 19. The student center will be transformed with decorations, life-size games, a DJ, bounce and slide inflatables, food, crafts, two massage therapists, three manicurists and more, all fit to the themes of various boardgames. Raffle tickets will also be given away during the event, giving attendees the chance to win prizes, such as a Wii or an iPad, at the end of the night. SFB agreed to fund this event with the stipulation that members of CUB will not be eligible to win the raffle prizes.

The members of SFB denied CUB $18,200 to bring author Daniel Handler, who writes under the pseudonym Lemony Snicket and is best known for his “A Series of Unfortunate Events,” to the College for the Spring 2011 lecture. The board members felt that Handler was not an appropriate speaker for the lecture because he caters to a younger audience, and they felt he would not be able to draw a crowd at the College.

The Jewish organization Chabad was granted $4,730 for Shabbat 100, which will be held in BSC room 202 at 6:30 p.m. on Feb. 18.

The event will provide traditional Jewish foods, such as matzah ball soup, challah and noodle kugel, to give students the opportunity to experience the Jewish culture. The event will also feature Jewish celebrity Tamir Goodman, a former NBA basketball player, who will be giving a speech.

After almost an hour of debate, SFB unanimously voted to approve the Black Student Union’s request for $3,400 for a closing ceremony on Feb. 26 to mark the end of Black History Month, provided that it is held in the student center’s atrium. However, it denied the group $8,000 in funding for a keynote speaker, Columbia University professor Marc Lamont Hill, who board members considered not popular enough to draw a large crowd and therefore not worth the hefty price tag.

SFB also granted the Haitian Student Association $1,927 for its sixth annual Ambiance, an event to celebrate Haitian culture, planned for Saturday, April 9. Members unanimously agreed to fund all but one request from HSA for this event — to book a popular Haitian music band, T-Vice, from Florida — because the price of the band was $10,000. SFB agreed that they would allow HSA time to find a less expensive band and return to request more funding if the band was a more reasonable price.

PRISM requested $596.61 to fund their eighth annual Queer Wedding, an event to represent different couples — straight, gay, lesbian and transgender — getting married. After cutting $70 from PRISM’s request for 100 glossy fliers, which board members thought was excessive, SFB allocated $566.61 for the event.

SFB also approved $1730.40 for the Inter-Greek Council to send its four executive members to the Northeast Greek Leadership Association’s conference in Hartford, Conn. from Feb. 17 to Feb. 20, provided that they somehow implement what they learn about programming from the conference at the College when they return.