The Oregon Daily Emerald faced an attempted de-funding of student incidental fees at its Programs Finance Committee budget hearing Thursday night.
In a drawn-out debate that lasted more than an hour, PFC member Mason Quiroz made a motion to de-fund the Emerald completely.
Emerald Editor in Chief Jennifer Sudick said she was “appalled as a student, that students are being
revoked of their voice.
“You all are pretty much saying, ‘We don’t want to hear what students have to say,’” Sudick said.
Quiroz dropped stacks of Wednesday’s and primarily Thursday’s copies of the Emerald on the table.
“These are the Oregon Daily Emerald papers that were left in the rack today, and some from yesterday,” Quiroz said. “All of these are just from a few of the racks in the EMU.”
Emerald General Manager Judy Reidl said that the ASUO had mandated the number of papers to
be printed in its contract with
the Emerald.
“I think the students deserve more than one paper, and I think the students shouldn’t have to pay $111,000 for a paper that isn’t read,” Quiroz added. “It is the responsibility of the PFC to the students.”
PFC member Eden Cortez supported the motion to de-fund
the Emerald, saying, “the money is not actually benefiting the students and is being read by people who are not students.”
However, PFC member Jael Anker-Lagos countered Cortez by reminding the PFC, “It is our purpose to fund groups that contribute to the community, create a marketplace of opportunity and provide a place outside of the classroom to gain experience.”
PFC Chair Persis Pohowalla agreed.
“If the reason for de-funding them is because of the surplus of papers at the end of the day, it is not validated at all,” Pohowalla said.
Quiroz attempted to clarify the purpose of the motion.
“Don’t equate de-funding with eliminating a program, because that is not what we are trying to do,” Quiroz said. “Taking away the $111,000 does not mean we will not keep seeing ODE every day, it is just a decrease in their budget.”
After hearing support for the Emerald from numerous student and community members, Anker-Lagos made the motion to approve a budget.
PFC member Khanh Le seconded the motion.
“When we give money to groups for advertising, it usually goes to ODE, which is another student-run group. So, it is benefiting students,” he said.
Finally, after passionate debate and inquisition, PFC approved a budget of $111, 992, a 6.9 percent decrease from last year’s budget, which was the executive recommendation. The Emerald had requested $125,000, a 3.8 percent increase. However, the proposal for the increase was not discussed
during the hearing.
In addition, Sudick said the Emerald had never received its executive recommendation. The document is to be available 24 hours before a group’s hearing, according to the ASUO Programs Budget Packet, and was promised to be completed 72 hours prior to the hearing, according a Nov. 10 e-mail to all PFC fee-funded programs from ASUO Vice President Mena Ravassipour and ASUO
Finance Coordinator Mike Martell.

Jordan Thierry is a freelance reporter for the Daily Emerald