The Student Senate’s faculty adviser made at least two unauthorized payments of Student Government funds to the Red Cross, said Adam Weyhaupt, speaker of the senate.

Weyhaupt said that he had identified two payments of senate funds, which come from student fees, made by Ceci Brinker, director of student life and senate adviser, to the Red Cross for their annual blood drive.

The payments came out of a line-item in this year’s senate budget allocating $420 toward Red Cross-sponsored blood drives. However, senate bylaws maintain that any expenditures over $50 must be first approved by the senate.

Brinker said the payments were a result of a “miscommunication”, and it would be “inaccurate” to say that she knowingly gave the funds out without permission.

Years ago, Brinker said, the senate decided to set aside money for the Red Cross rather than have representatives from the humanitarian organization petition the senate each time money was needed.

“The senate has always been allocating money to the Red Cross,” Brinker said.

When the current senate decided to review the allocation, Brinker said a message was sent to Red Cross officials, but not to her. Therefore, Brinker didn’t realize she payments weren’t supposed to automatically be made until it was too late.

Weyhaupt said he is working with Student Body President Katie Cox to find when the payments were made and how much money was spent. In the meantime, Weyhaupt said he and Cox have made instructions not to authorize any expenditures without either’s written consent.

Last year, Weyhaupt said senate funds were also spent on blood drives without senate authorization. Those allocations were stopped only when Weyhaupt and Cox wrote the Red Cross about the issue, he said.

The fact that senate funds are being allocated to the Red Cross is itself a controversial issue. Two weeks ago, the senate defeated a bill that would have allocated $100 towards an advertisement in the Miss Black EIU pageant program on the grounds that the senate should not give donations to third parties. Supporters of the bill pointed to the Red Cross allocation as an example of a donation already made by the senate.

A bylaw change passed by the senate Wednesday would stop the Red Cross allocations entirely.

Under the bylaw change, the senate is forbidden to donate to any third party.

“The way I read it, (the Red Cross allocation) would not be permitted under this bylaw change,” Weyhaupt said.