Although the ASUO Executive wants the Athletics Department to pick up funding of the Oregon Marching Band, a spokesman for the department called that scenario “highly unlikely” Thursday.
The Executive issued a letter Wednesday saying it stands by its belief that “the incidental fee is not the appropriate source for OMB funding,” suggesting that the Athletics Department should fund it instead.
“The OMB operates like a team,” the letter says. “They practice like a team, they are devoted like a team and they perform like a team. The ASUO firmly believes they should be funded like a team and through the athletic department.”
Dave Williford, spokesman for the Athletics Department, said the ASUO has not approached the department about the matter and that it’s unlikely that the department will contribute more money to the band.
“It’s not that the Athletic Department doesn’t fund the band,” he said. “We do fund the band.”
The Athletics Department gave the band $212,000 for the current school year.
The department has a budget of more than $42 million, said biology professor and former University Senate President Nathan Tublitz.
“In our view, the band department is part of the University,” Williford said. “In our minds, it’s not unlike chemistry or English.”
He said there is a misconception that the Athletics Department, which does not receive money from the University’s general fund, has unlimited financial resources.
The band will be funded next year, but student leaders need to examine “all options that are present,” according to the letter.
“They don’t have any plans to defund the marching band without assuring that other funding is in place,” said Assistant Director of Bands Eric Wiltshire.
In talks this week, a member of the Executive spoke with Wiltshire to clarify which University departments help fund the band. Wiltshire informed the Executive that the band does not receive a dependable stream of money from the School of Music and Dance because the school only conveys money from private donations, he said.
In an Oct. 6 memo announcing a proposal to cut the band’s roughly $115,000 budget over two years, the Executive had claimed that the OMB received money from both the Athletics Department and the School of Music and Dance.
The letter says that students voted to fund the marching band through a referendum in 1984, giving it $38,000. The referendum funded the band for three years.
The band became a recognized and fee-funded group in 1988, and the Programs Finance Committee has kept its funding steady or increased its budget for seven consecutive years.
“In 1984, the Athletic Department was facing difficulties, and students stepped up,” the letter says. “In 2006, students are the ones facing financial difficulties. Our Athletic Department is now among the most profitable in the country, and it is time for them to step up.”
Wiltshire said he feels the Executive and the band are on the same page. Budget discussions of this nature happen every year, he said.
“When you have a big budget, you become a target,” he said. “I don’t feel threatened by what’s going on.”
Wiltshire said he has had support from within the University and other schools in the Pac-10. He said the support has been “good to hear.”
Wiltshire said the next step is to submit the band’s budget proposal to the PFC.
“There will be conversation from there,” he said.
The Executive’s letter states it will not move forward without support from the ASUO Senate. The decision rests with the PFC and ultimately with the ASUO Senate.
“If these bodies overwhelmingly oppose this idea, the Executive will not move forward with it,” the letter says.
The Executive has said it will look at other groups’ funding to cut as well to keep the incidental fee under control.
The new letter also says the Executive regrets “not informing the leadership of the marching band prior to the distribution of the memo.”
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