USG spends almost third of budget on comedy show

In an effort to provide students with free entertainment, the Undergraduate Student Government (USG) is organizing a program which will cost approximately one-third of its overall budget.

The program, known as Laughtopia, will occur on Jan. 21 and 28 and will feature various comedians at the UIC Forum.

As explained by assembly member Sana Rahmani, the main reasons that USG is organizing the event is to provide a "free event for students to kick off the second semester" and to create a "new approach" in its programming efforts.

The overall budget for Laughtopia runs at a total cost of $16,640. Of that total, $10,000 will be paid for by USG, and the remainder will be covered by the Student Activities Funding Committee (SAFC).

The program, which was organized by USG along with the Persian Cultural Association and Beta Kappa Zeta Fraternity, is free to all UIC students. Rahmani explained that USG will be raffling off items from local businesses and accepting donations each night, with the proceeds going to Children's Memorial Hospital.

As leader of the task force formed to help organize Laughtopia, Rahmani explained that he saw the program as a "celebration of diversity through collaboration."

"UIC is not lacking in leaders or dedicated individuals, but collaboration is always a great avenue for successful programming," said Rahmani.

Although he led the task force to help organize Laughtopia, Rahmani explained that many people helped along the way. "While USG made a large contribution financially," he said, "there were a handful of individuals from USG that really invested their time, including Matt Bujalski, Adam Rozalowski and Mike Padgett."

As part of the collaborative effort to create Laughtopia, each night will be sponsored by local businesses including Morgan's, Minion Clothing, Drum and Monkey, Athena Greek and Union Park Lounge.

The lineup of comedians was created with the help of Desi Showtime entertainment. On Jan. 21 will consist of Prashanth Venkataramujam, Will Evans, Marty Muloski, Rajiv Saytal and Vincent Oshana. Then on Jan. 28, the evening will feature Prashanth Venkataramujam, Asif Ali and Donnell Rawlings. DJ Nickie BlueEyes will be featured at each event.

Upon publication, USG's spring budget was unavailable. For the fall semester, their budget totaled at $36,587.