For the past several weeks, ASUO members have been preparing measures to amend how incidental fees are allocated at the University.
On Tuesday, students will decide whether to incorporate their proposals into the ASUO Constitution.
Both measures on the ballot for the ASUO special election, which will be held Tuesday and Wednesday, would amend the Clark Document — a section of the ASUO Constitution that governs the use of incidental fees.
One of these measures would give the ASUO Program Finance Committee (PFC) a one-year exemption to a rule that caps budget growth at 7 percent per year.
The other measure would allow the ASUO Senate to review spending by the EMU Board if the board spends more than 20 percent of the EMU building reserves.
Student Sen. Mary Elizabeth Madden said the PFC needs to substantially increase its budget to continue funding groups that previously went to the ballot for funding. The measure would allow the PFC to expand the 2002-2003 budget by as much as 80 percent.
“If we don’t get this one year exception, services and programs will have to be drastically cut to fit them into the PFC Budget,” she said.
University administrators advised the ASUO to end ballot measure funding this year because of a ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court. The court ruled that incidental fees at public universities have to be allocated through a “viewpoint neutral” process.
According to the court’s ruling in March 2000, funding by ballot is not viewpoint neutral because majority opinion determines whether a group receives funding.
University groups that previously went to the ballot for funding have said they will take their budgets to the PFC for approval this year, which will require a higher PFC budget.
The second measure on the ballot would give the ASUO Senate more control over EMU building reserve money, which is used for maintenance or emergency expenses that arise during the year.
Oregon state law requires several University reserve funds. In the past, these reserves have not been funded at the level mandated by law.
This year, University President Dave Frohnmayer amended the Clark Document to require that these reserve funds be fully funded by the incidental fee. The EMU Budget includes the largest portion of these reserves.
Currently, if the EMU spends more reserve money than is budgeted for, it is required to cover the expenses with money from another part of the budget.
This measure would change that system because only 20 percent of the EMU reserve money would be automatically budgeted. After spending 20 percent of the reserves, the board could then go to the Senate to approve additional expenses.
If the Senate approved the board’s request, there would be no budgetary penalty for the EMU. But if the Senate did not approve a request to spend more than 20 percent of the reserve money, the EMU board would have to cover the expense from elsewhere in the budget.
ASUO President Nilda Brooklyn said the measure would give the current system “an added check and balance.”
EMU Director of Student Activities Gregg Lobisser said an advantage of the measure is that it could make more money available for needed building repairs.
But he said it could also create conflict between the Senate and EMU administrators.
In a worst-case scenario, Lobisser said, a flood or another emergency could occur when school is not in session. Under the new measure, if members of the board had already spent 20 percent of the reserve funds, they would have to wait until the next Senate meeting to spend more of the reserve money.
“You can’t manage a building that way,” he said. “It’s not good management sense to have those kinds of restrictions.”
Senator Andy Elliott, who helped write the measure, said the Senate should have a say in how building reserve money is spent because it comes from student incidental fees.
“This in no way disables them from spending more than 20 percent,” he said. “It just puts a safeguard there.”