The ASUO Senate voted once more to approve the Athletics and Contracts Finance Committee budget in an emergency Senate meeting, which passed by just one vote.
The budget is being sent back to ASUO President Amelie Rousseau, again lacking funding for the Oregon Student Public Interest Research Group.
Rousseau said she is unsure how her Executive team will proceed.
“I was confused that they didn’t decide to fund any for OSPIRG,” Rousseau said. “The real problem was ACFC turned in a budget that didn’t have money for OSPIRG; the real question is (about) our legislative process.”
If Rousseau vetoes the budget a second time and the Senate does not override before the Thursday at midnight budget deadline, she will be at liberty to make the budget as she sees fit.
Of the 17 members present, 9 voted in favor of the ACFC budget without OSPIRG and 8 voted against the budget.
ACFC, a major programs budget, needs only an absolute majority of senators at the meeting, meaning that as little as 51 percent of votes is all that is required for the Senate to approve the budget.
ACFC voted two weeks ago to approve a 5.86 percent increase to its budget, which included a renegotiated Lane Transit District contract, more money to the athletic department, a small increase to Sexual Assault Support Services and no funding for OSPIRG because of the lack of an opt-out option for students.
This was the only topic on Tuesday night’s agenda, as the meeting was held in order to ensure ACFC’s budget was voted on before April 1.
The opposing sides continued to lob their arguments in favor and in opposition to the group’s funding.
Sen. Emma Newman spoke in favor of OSPIRG receiving funding.
“I think that OSPIRG is a valid service that is very important to campus,” Newman said.
However, Sen. Brianna Woodside-Gomez, ACFC chair, opposed the group after taking into account the opinions of students on campus.
“From where I come from, students who approach me keep telling me they don’t want OSPIRG on campus,” Woodside-Gomez said.
Sen. Marissa Garcia said she wanted to give the group a chance, saying that as long as the group received minimal support and only operated on campus, it could get a trial run.
“Giving them a smaller number allows them to prove themselves,” Garcia said, asking, “Can we put conditions? Can it only stay on campus?”
However, while Sen. Max Barkley also approves of the work the group does on campus, he would like to see it operate more like a student program and have a funding amount similar to other student programs. Barkley said that he doesn’t see an $80,000 budget impacting the political process.
“(It would be) allowed to grow steadily, students would be more directly involved,” Barkley said of OSPIRG as a program. “Giving OSPIRG more than $3,000 is a complete waste of money.”
This ACFC budget comes in at $3,964,991, which is a more than 5 percent increase over last year’s ACFC budget.
From the evening following OSPIRG’s first hearing, Rousseau said she would veto any budget without funding for the group.
That held true when the president acted to veto the initial Senate-approved budget. A budget has once again been submitted without support for OSPIRG.
Rousseau will decide her course of action in the next two days.
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