The Associated Students of Foothill College budget was pulled from the Foothill-De Anza District’s May 7 board of trustees agenda due to concerns raised by students over the budget-making process, including staff voting on the budget committee and allegations of an intimidating atmosphere at an April 19 college council meeting.

“The seriousness of the allegations led me to withdraw the item for board consideration and reschedule it for June 4,” a letter from Foothill College president Judy Miner stated.

ASFC president Shane Courtney said he requested vice president of student development Denise Swett to take over advisement of the budget and bylaw review committees, previously advised by director of student activities Daphne Small.

At a May 10 ASFC college council meeting, Swett said bylaws would be revised to eliminate staff voting on the student senate budget. Previously, Small, student accounts manager Sirisha Pingali and dean of student affairs Pat Hyland have voted on the budget committee. A final budget is decided by an all-student college council.

Swett also said staff, faculty and administrators would be barred from directly applying for student money, though this would not prohibit students from applying for a program that would include paid staff.

The ASFC approved a motion to hold an informational budget meeting May 17 and a vote May 24. Both meetings are to take place in venues that can accommodate more people than the regular meeting site, the Toyon room.

An April 19 college council meeting voted to approve $72,800 for the position of intramural coordinator, held by Stephen Mitchell, for the 2012-13 budget.

ASFC members said there were so many people at the meeting that tables for voting members that normally are arranged in a square had to be squeezed to the middle. Most of the crowd was made up of athletes who showed up in support of Mitchell.

“I felt intimidated,” said student senate budget commissioner Joseph Otayde. He added that his decision to bring a motion to create a line item for the intramural coordinator position was influenced by the large crowd.

Student senate vice president of administration Tommy Wong said his vote to approve the salary wasn’t influenced by the crowd, but that other members had expressed concerns.

“There’s multiple people coming to me that say ‘I don’t feel right about this,'” Wong said.

But some ASFC members disagreed with the characterization of the atmosphere as intimidating.

Senator Zion Fung said the unusually large crowd felt “weird” but expressed admiration for the number of people who showed up.