The biannual three-ring circus made its final stop at Syracuse University for the school year Monday night, and it didn’t disappoint. Five hours of spectacular debate, sensational yelling and outrageous finger pointing. Never has your money been so entertaining.

In the left ring: University Union, the greedy group of merciless money-grabbing misers, the crusher of the small student organization, who only bring events to campus for small and private crowds, with its main attraction, the Amazing Adam Gorode, chair of UU Concerts.

In the right ring: The little guys, the smaller student organizations with modest budget requests and an eagerness to voice their dissent with the Student Fee allocation process.

And in the center ring: The Student Association Assembly, with Ringmaster Ryan Doyle, SA parliamentarian, complete with top hat and sequined jacket.

From the audience’s perspective, that’s how the average budget meeting appears to me.

We see the same show at the end of every semester: Too much money requested by student organizations and not nearly enough Student Fee to go around. After four semesters of watching SA’s budgeting process, I have noticed the same order of events occur again and again:

1. UU requests more money than most of the smaller student organizations put together and SA Assembly approves a large amount of what it asks for.

2. Representatives from the smaller groups get upset.

3. Accusations are made, a lot of cursing and arguing ensues and the Finance Board asks those who did not receive funding to apply for money from the special programming fund.

4. Rinse and repeat.

But there was something slightly different Monday night, something relatively unique when looking beyond the chaos. For once, the Assembly didn’t ignore the representatives from the smaller student organizations. It denied UU a lot of its funding, including a proposal for a Tier 2 concert. It rescinded a bill that awarded itself about $77,000 to bring a prominent political speaker such as former Secretary of State Colin Powell to campus. And all with the intention of giving student groups a chance at more money next semester.

Considering the circumstances, it was the most responsible thing the Assembly could do at the time. The representatives realized that they overlooked other groups in order to benefit SA, and they took action.

So now what? SA could easily just pat itself on the back and continue with its business, or it can make sure that the next allocation meeting features more productivity and less hostility.

SA, specifically the Finance Board, needs to make it clear to student organizations ahead of time that there is no way the Student Activity Fee can fund all budget requests. Groups should look to other fund-raising sources, such as local businesses, to sponsor their events before asking the Assembly. But naturally, the hardest task is still in the allocation process. When the Finance Board meets next year, it should consider not only the amount of money large organizations such as Hillel and UU request, but also each event’s potential to generate revenue. By recommending less to the larger groups, more money will be free to fund everyone else.

It’s not a perfect system, and there is no one true way to make sure each group gets even a fraction of what it requests. But with a budget as tight and as complex as this, every little bit counts. If SA is careful, perhaps next year we’ll have a petting zoo instead of a circus.