The Oregon Daily Emerald will receive a 3.8 percent, or about $4,500, increase in funding from student incidental fees for 2005-06 after the ASUO Programs Finance Committee formally approved its budget
proposal by a 4-0 vote Tuesday.
At the hearing, the ASUO Executive proposed a budget of $111,992, a 6.9 percent decrease from last year. The appeals
hearing was the second PFC meeting for the Emerald this year. In the first hearing on Jan. 20, PFC approved an $111, 992 budget, which was the ASUO
Executive recommendation.
PFC member Mason Quiroz, who was prohibited from voting because of an ASUO Constitution Court injunction, said
the Emerald should work out
a model or formula that could
effectively evaluate the performance of the newspaper and
determine how much funding
it should receive each year. Quiroz said the issue should have been discussed long before the hearing and “it is too late”
to discuss the issue in a
one-hour hearing.
Emerald General Manager Judy Riedl agreed that a model or formula would make the hearing much easier, but the ASUO hasn’t worked with the paper to create one.
“We’ve been trying to do
that for the last two years, and
it just doesn’t seem to happen. Once the hearing is over, the
PFC is busy, the ASUO is busy,” Riedl said. “There was supposed to be a budget note attached
to our allocation last year; it
never happened.”
But Riedl said she was optimistic that a formula is possible in the near future.
PFC member Khanh Le proposed that the budget should
be set at $120,000 instead of $125,000 to save students’ money. He said the proposal was a
compromise to the Emerald’s
proposed $125,000.
“I just want to make sure we do not waste any money from the student incidental fee,” he said.
Riedl said the newspaper has been working hard to save students’ money, but the $125,000 proposal is a reasonable figure considering increasing operational costs — press, rent and stipends — and decreasing advertising revenue.
“Advertising has been in a slump nationwide,” Riedl said. “Newspapers everywhere are
losing money. To top it all, then our fees are cut, too, so we’re getting hit with a double whammy.”
$125,000 is roughly the same amount the Emerald was allocated by the PFC in 1990-91 and nearly $8,000 less than the amount the Emerald was funded from 1997 to 2000.
Newly confirmed PFC member Mike Sherman said he was impressed that the Emerald is operating with the same amount of money it did 14 years ago.
“Considering the surging price and increased student population in the University, I would say the new proposal is very reasonable,” he said.

Aibing Guo is a freelance reporter for the Daily Emerald