The student government committee in charge of distributing incidental fees to student groups voted late Thursday to fund a controversial OSPIRG position that some high-ranking student government officials argue diverts funds off campus.
During the group’s meeting with the ASUO Programs Finance Committee, officials of the Oregon Student Public Interest Research Group requested a 4 percent increase in their annual budget. Their request included funds to add a new campus field organizer.
That person, who would travel to other Oregon colleges and universities to help conduct statewide campaigns, would also help students learn valuable networking skills and bring new ideas back to the University, said Martini Morris, an OSPIRG board member.
ASUO President Adam Walsh, Student Senate President Stephanie Erickson and Senator Toby Piering argued that the PFC should decrease OSPIRG’s budget by 6.66 percent to stop the creation of the position.
“We’re paying for this position to go and recruit at other schools. Why pay for our dollars to go somewhere else completely?” Walsh asked. OSPIRG National Student Forum member Megan DeBates said that if Walsh “does not like the field organizer position, he can veto the budget.”
At 11 p.m., the PFC moved to vote on the ASUO Executive’s proposed 6.66 percent reduction. In a tense moment, the members went around the table in oral votes. PFC members Jacob Daniels and Erica Anderson voted in favor of the reduction and PFC members Kristen Kato, Scott Lu and Richard Malena voted against it, defeating the proposal.
Walsh, Erickson and Piering all agreed that it was too early to say whether they would support vetoing the budget later.
The PFC also heard annual budget requests for five groups wishing to use money from student incidental fees.
Programs and Assessments is a service that provides financial and programming support for all 140 student-funded groups. The group pays one-time equipment costs and taxes for all student groups and pays the hourly wages for ASUO employees. The PFC increased the group’s budget by 4.9 percent, giving it $317,474 for next year.
The ASUO Executive, one of the three branches of student government, will receive $172,575 in incidental fees next year. After little debate, the PFC voted 4-0-2 to increase the executive’s budget by 0.72 percent. The ASUO Executive will use the increase to help with its voter registration drive and travel to Salem to advocate for student issues with state legislators, ASUO Finance Coordinator Nick Hudson said.
The Asian Pacific American Student Union, which provides support and promotes awareness of Asian Pacific culture and history, asked for a 26.82 percent increase to create a new winter program. The ASUO Executive recommended a decrease of 6.4 percent, or $949, but the PFC decided on a compromise increase of 8.46 percent, or $1,305. The union’s share of the incidental fund for next year will be $16,408.
During its hearing, the PFC decided to approve a 16.27 percent, $1,447 budget increase for the Hawaii Club, a social group designed to both improve well-being for Hawaiian students and to expose the community to Hawaiian culture.
The group, which asked for a 37 percent budget increase to help pay for a fall retreat, will receive a final 2006-07 budget of $10,343.
The PFC awarded the Child Care Subsidy, a service that offers reimbursement to student parents, a 2.84 percent, $5,804 increase, as it had requested.
University student Margarita Smith was accompanied by her two children, Selah, 9, and Diallo, 11, to the budget hearing.
“I don’t think that I could have been able to stay full time without (Child Care) Subsidy,” she said.
Child Care Subsidy Student Director Ashley Bergman said the service provides funds for more than 150 families. Next year, Child Care Subsidy will receive $239,460 in incidental fees.
In reaction to the PFC’s decision, Bergman said, “Hopefully we’ll be able to help more student families come back to school.”