Several members of the Student Senate stifled discussion of The Insurgent last week when they walked out of a Senate meeting, claiming that it’s unconstitutional to discuss punishing a publication for its content.
After the meeting, then-Senator Toby Piering and current Senator Kyle McKenzie said it’s ironic because the Senate two weeks prior discussed defunding the Emerald for what it claimed was antagonistic coverage of student government.
The discussion was added to the May 10 agenda as “The Oregon Daily Emerald’s antagonism of Senate” and was introduced by Senator Mat Foust out of concern for the relationship between the Senate and the Emerald.
At that meeting, Senator Dallas Brown proposed cutting Emerald funds because, he said, it was failing to fulfill its contract.
He suggested drafting a resolution to fire this Emerald reporter, and he later said “we have the ability to claim they’re not fulfilling their contract” if the Senate finds the Emerald to be reporting false or biased information. It would be possible to freeze funds, he said.
Several senators spoke against this proposal, and the discussion ended with the understanding by Senate that it could not control the press.
Foust wrote in an e-mail that while his intention in discussing the Emerald was to mend the relationship between it and the Senate, Brown expanded the argument outside the purview of the Senate.
“He took the discussion in a direction that I, for one, certainly did not foresee, a direction I believe you are right to suspect as being in violation of Southworth,” Foust wrote.
The eight senators who walked out sent a letter Monday stating that their action was to protectincidental fees. It didn’t address the difference between the prior discussion of the Emerald and discussing The Insurgent.