Thursday night’s Program Finance Committee hearing was a hotbed of controversy, with PFC reaching decisions for the budget proposals of the Student Bar Association, MEChA and OSPIRG after intense debates.
The budgets for the Recreational Sports Program and Physical Activity and Recreational Services were passed with a few snags at $152,961 and $779,293 respectively, and the PFC voted unanimously to defund Quiz Bowl after it failed to show.
The central topic of debate during OSPIRG’s controversial hearing, which drew nearly 50 supporters, was the transparency of the group’s budget, which was not itemized to the specificity that some PFC members desired. OSPIRG transitioned from a referenda process just two years ago and thus has had trouble getting its budget up to PFC standards.
For PFC Sen. Colin Andries, this lack of transparency was reason to motion to defund the group. The motion failed.
Andries also expressed concern that OSPIRG’s funding does not benefit the University proportionally, as OSPIRG consolidates funding it receives from its university chapters into a statewide fund for efficiency.
“(The funds) just go to Portland, and they get to spend it as they please,” he said.
Senior Tim Johnson, chairman of the University’s Oregon Student Public Interest Research Group chapter, said he believes it was more than the numbers that bothered Andries.
“I felt that he was making a decision based on ideological reasons as opposed to the numbers that were before him,” he said.
“We’d attempted to contact him on numerous occasions to clarify any budget concerns he might have about our group, and he didn’t … express the type that would warrant defunding our group.”
Andries insisted the implication that there were political motivations behind his decisions is “a complete fabrication,” adding that it was primarily the lack of transparency in the budget proposal that concerned him.
The members finally came to a consensus after two and a half hours of tedious number-crunching and debate. PFC members approved the ASUO Executive recommendation of $115,265, a 14.6 percent increase from last year’s budget. Despite his previous motion to defund the group, Andries voted for the proposal.
“I had already lost … I was supporting the PFC,” he said.
The Student Bar Association hearing was another item on the docket that drew a fair amount of controversy. PFC voted to table the budget proposal after ASUO Senate President Ben Strawn pointed out a potential conflict of interest.
“My primary concern is that Colin (Andries’) signature is on the front of the budget,” Strawn said.
Andries, who put together the budget as SBA’s Business Officer, refused to say whether he would abstain during the organization’s next PFC hearing.
MEChA’s budget hearing was hindered by their troubled fiscal past. Some PFC members were hesitant to increase the group’s budget because its audit indicated that all of the funds had been transferred to cover its budget deficit. The group’s budget was frozen after it spent itself into deficit after hosting a statewide conference.
“We’ve never let bad leadership be an excuse before,” PFC Vice Chairman Toby Piering said, referring to the group’s fiscal problems.
PFC eventually decided on $20,072 for the group, a 7.6 percent increase from last year. The budget passed 4-2 with one abstention.