After recent budget hearings, EMU administrators still disagree with UO Cultural Forum and Student Activities Resource Office coordinators on how the programs should be run.
On Tuesday, the EMU Board rejected the groups’ budgets for 2002-03. Both groups had presented budget requests that differed from the totals that EMU administrators had suggested.
The board advised EMU administrators to work with the Cultural Forum and SARO and then return for another hearing with budget requests on which both parties could agree.
Board members also tabled a motion to vote on the Cultural Forum’s goal statement — which must be approved before programs can legally receive state funds — until Jan. 22.
The board questioned whether the goal statement — which included the reinstatement of Cultural Forum Program Coordinator Linda Dievendorf — was legal because organization goal statements usually do not relate to hiring issues, board member Andy Elliott said.
Some board members also thought the Cultural Forum’s goal statement should have focused more on the benefits the program offers to all University students, not just the student coordinators of the program, he said.
Last spring, EMU administrators Dusty Miller and Gregg Lobisser decided not to renew Dievendorf’s contract when it ends in May. Students active in the Cultural Forum and SARO protested the decision, and some said the decision reflected a desire by the EMU administration to take control away from students. Dievendorf, who has worked at the University for 21 years — 17 at the Cultural Forum — said the dispute over the Cultural Forum’s budget shows that EMU administrators still want to control how the Cultural Forum is run.
“I think there’s a power struggle going on between the EMU administration and the Cultural Forum … and I think it’s being reflected in our budget hearings,” she said.
But Miller said the disagreement over the groups’ budgets is not about a power struggle. EMU administrators simply want to submit a budget “based on what the board approved last year,” he said.
EMU administrators try to work with students and staff in every EMU program to develop a budget, and they will work with Cultural Forum and SARO coordinators to revise the budget before the next EMU Board hearing, Miller said.
Cultural Forum Office Coordinator Jessie Wylie said the budget proposal presented by the Cultural Forum was organized differently than the budget request submitted by EMU administrators to “be more reflective of what happens in the office.”
The Cultural Forum requested an 11 percent budget increase for 2002-03 for a total budget of $185,859. EMU administrators requested a 4.9 percent increase, for a total budget of $175,152.
During the hearing, board members discussed past spending by SARO and the Cultural Forum, including a transfer of $6,000 between the programs last term which the board didn’t approve.
Wylie said the transfer, which the Cultural Forum used to cover administrative expenses, including a receptionist salary, was an “honest mistake.”
EMU Business Manager Susan Racette approved the transfer, and Cultural Forum coordinators did not realize it needed to be brought before the board, she said. She added that the Cultural Forum has made changes such as working with agencies to promote events to save costs and avoid going into deficit again this year.
The EMU Board must submit final budgets for 2002-03 to the ASUO Programs Finance Committee by Feb. 13. A second hearing date for SARO and the Cultural Forum has not been finalized.