Student Government Association treasurer Jihad Al-Khatib began the interview in his clean, new office by shutting the door and asking, “Are you recording?”

“Yes.”

“Alright, I’ll make sure to speak like a human being.”

The interview took place after SGA’s meeting Wednesday night, where the association passed two funding bills and a senate bill that amended the Legislative Journal.

The senate bill, which clarified the section of instructions for applying for SGA funding — making them more clear and succinct — was the topic of the interview.

Al-Khatib returned to his desk and put an old and a revised copy of the section before him. He spoke about the bill before the change.

“The way they had it before was kind of integrated,” Al-Khatib said. “Individual and organization funding were lump-summed together into one category.”

Before, the Legislative Journal was not organized to allow someone who was looking for information only pertinent to him to find it without having to digest excess information.

Al-Khatib said the overlap and redundancies within the section caused confusion for students and also the budget and finance committee.

“We saw that it could be a great inconvenience to students if we gave them [the bill] the way it was,” Al-Khatib said. “It’s intimidating.”

Al-Khatib worked with SGA legislative director Steel Estes to make the document more clear and user-friendly.

“We wanted to tidy up the layout and make it more user-friendly,” Al-Khatib said, “so that the average WSU student could get through this and not have to scratch their head.”

Every year, SGA receives student fees money and creates a budget for funding WSU students and organizations.

Besides representing students and initiating changes to campus, funding individuals and organizations is one of the most prevalent services SGA provides.

The money can be used to help with travel to conferences, to help organizations put on events and other things.

In order to receive funding, individuals and organizations must apply, meet the requirements and follow the procedures.

Using the new bill, if an individual or organization needs information on a certain part of the funding process, they can go into the sub-section that applies to them and find it.

“Now they can read a page and a half without sifting through any other information in regard to their specific needs,” Al-Khatib said.

At the meeting, SGA also passed two funding bills:

One was for Kazim Topuz, a graduate student, to travel to San Francisco to present his research at a conference.

It allocated $587.50.

The other bill allocated $1,645.34 among four organizations — the Indian Student Association, the Japanese Culture Association, the Wichita State Rocket Club and the Wichita Linux Users Group.

Each organization received varying amounts that went to help with project and/or operating costs.

SGA will meet again Wednesday.