The Programs Finance Committee approved the Multicultural Center’s budget after more than an hour of debate over the group’s request for a sizable increase, including more money for payroll expenses.
Erica Fuller, the MCC director, said the salaries for MCC staff positions should be granted as requested. Otherwise, Fuller said, she would not be able to pay her staff for their summer work.
“It hinders my ability to get the students started,” Fuller said.
But according to a new stipend model the ASUO Student Senate implemented this year, monthly stipends for ASUO groups such as the MCC are being standardized.
“The Senate created the stipend model to have everyone consistent across the board,” PFC member Lawrence Gillespie said. “I don’t feel as if we are in the position to make special circumstances for one group.”
The PFC reached a compromise by providing two MCC positions with 10-month stipends, instead of nine-month stipends, so that some students can be paid for their summer work.
“We haven’t done that before, ” PFC Chairwoman Mary Elizabeth Madden said. “But we also were not as prepared as we usually are because there were completely new job positions.”
Members of the PFC said the MCC wasn’t fiscally responsible last year because it reimbursed a student directly for $224.30.
“It is a standard controller policy that there are no reimbursements,” Madden said.
The PFC also approved budgets for the Muslim Student Association and the Oregon Future Lawyers Association.
The PFC has received six appeals to its budget hearing decisions so far, and Madden said the PFC expects an estimate of 15-20 appeals overall.