The Oregon Commentator’s budget was renewed Thursday during a regular meeting of the ASUO Programs Finance Committee, with the PFC allocating the opinion journal $16,376 mostly for printing costs next year.
Last year, the student government finance committee voted to deny the mission and goals statement for the Commentator – effectively defunding it – because of writing that some PFC members said was discriminatory.
The Commentator staff argued that the budget freeze was an abridgment to its right to freedom of expression. The ASUO Constitution Court removed two members of the PFC from the committee after the Commentator filed a grievance. The PFC later approved the Commentator’s statement and funding request.
A vestige of the debate existed at the meeting in the form of Dan Weiner, a community member representing Active Minds, a local libertarian group. He read a statement arguing that “The Commentator should be defunded for failure to live up to its mission statement,” and he suggested that its budget should instead be spent on libertarian causes.
The PFC voted 6-0-1 in favor
of Executive Appointee Jacob Daniels’ motion to keep the Commentator’s share of incidental fee funds at $16,376.
The meeting was the 12th in an ongoing series to determine the budgets of all student groups receiving incidental funds. Six other groups attended Thursday’s meeting.
The ASUO Student Senate’s budget was increased by 21 percent to $28,052. The decision was approved in a vote of 3-0 with the three senators on the PFC abstaining.
The University chapter of the United States Student Association received a 15 percent jump to help manage its membership fees. The original recommendation was a 7 percent increase, but during the meeting it was discovered that USSA’s designation had been changed from student group to program and was therefore entitled to a larger share.
The Student Bar Association asked for a 2.97 percent budget increase to facilitate the travel of some of its members to a conference in Switzerland. Because the group had omitted a job description for its president from its proposal, the PFC voted in favor of tabling the decision pending the receipt of a completed proposal.
The University’s Sexual Assault Support Services asked for and received $48,961 in incidental fees to assist survivors of sexual assault and educate the community about contemporary issues.
During the hearing for the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Educational and Support Services Program, LGBTESSP representative Chicora Martin said that “queer issues are not valued on this campus,” comparing the monies allocated to support for LGBT students with those for other non-traditional students.
Daniels called the disparity “alarming.” Despite its request for an 8.9 percent increase, the LGBTESSP was granted 7 percent, leaving its share for the coming year at $24,347.
Sustainable Advantage, formerly the Sustainable Business Symposium, came into the meeting hoping for a 35 percent budget increase to help offset the costs of advertising for a spring conference.
The group’s stated goals are to facilitate discussion between local businesses and students, bring business leaders to the University and implement sustainable practices in businesses.
The ASUO Executive recommended an increase of 1.35 percent. The PFC decided to increase Sustainable Advantage’s budget by 15 percent to $9,672.
“It’s less than we hoped for, but it always is,” said Beth Littlehales, the group’s finance director.