Eleven weeks after accepting proposals to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars in over-realized student fees, the Student Senate allocated $835,784 to eight ideas, ranging from construction projects to paying off a portion of the Student Recreation Center’s debt.
The allocations now move to the ASUO president and the University president for final approval.
In a seven-hour meeting Wednesday night, Senators heard from the representatives of 19 proposals before deciding how to spend the money.
The allocations still have technical roadblocks, though, as two of the proposals went to construction projects for student groups, but a memo between administrators suggests the use of incidental fee money on capital projects may not be permissible.
The memo, which was sent from University General Counsel Randy Geller to Mike Eyster, interim vice president of student affairs, says incidental fee money may be used on capital expenditures on programs that are “advantageous to the cultural or physical development of campus,” but not on “facilities.”
“To address that issue, we should not allow incidental fee money to be used for construction,” the memo reads. “Incidental fees may be used for repairs and maintenance that are properly characterized as operating expenses rather than capital expenses.
“Based on the list you provided, the following proposals appear problematic as involving capital construction: KWVA Integrated Suite; EMU Multicultural Wing; Miller Theatre; and McKenzie Lab.”
Geller could not be reached to clarify this portion of his memo. Senators argued the memo can be interpreted several ways and should not be taken to mean no capital projects could be funded with the money. In the end, only two of the proposals listed in Geller’s memo – the EMU Multicultural Wing and the Miller Theatre – received funding.
One Senator expressed dismay with the way voting was handled.
Sen. Athan Papailiou said that during one of the recesses, another Senator came up to him and threatened to vote against funding a proposal from the Student Recreation Center if Papailiou did not vote for a large proposal for the EMU Multicultural Wing.
Several Senators wanted the EMU proposal to receive more than the $300,000 suggested by the Senate.
“I support the multicultural center and I support its capital improvement project but I do not support senators threatening not to fund other over-realized proposals if I did not fund the multicultural center more than $300,000,” Papailiou said. “I cannot negotiate away my responsibility as an ASUO Senator and as a representative of the student body. It is unacceptable for another Senator to ask me to give more funding to another project and threaten to not fund the rec center in exchange for my votes.”
Papailiou said it was “disheartening” to know that Senators would threaten to vote against proposals for “personal gain.”
Acting Senate President Jonathan Rosenberg told Senators the over-realized fund contained $965,303 and they could spend as much or as little as they wanted.
ASUO Accountant Lynn Giordano said the amount that has been reported has always been an estimate because it is constantly changing. She said the amount the Senate was given to spend Wednesday night is what was left over after saving money for a mandated “prudent reserve” and a buffer for expenses the ASUO knows are coming up. Because the fund is made up of incidental fees left when enrollment is higher than expected, the amount of money changes every term. Throughout the school year, the account has been reported to contain anywhere between $700,000 and close to $1 million.
When the appropriations committee introduced two packages at a town hall meeting on April 13, the largest totaled only $657,695.
People who spoke at the meeting represented the 17 ideas selected by the committee charged with packaging the ideas together plus two groups – the “climate neutral campus” and the University Theatre – that did not make it into the original packages.
Each group was given two minutes to make its case. Senators then spent hours pouring over the pros and cons of each proposal before voting on how much money to allocate. In the end, the money was divvied up among only eight proposals.
EMU MULTICULTURAL WING
The most contentious proposal of the night – submitted by the EMU – was the proposed construction of a multicultural wing in the EMU. This wing would be where student unions, the Multicultural Center and the EMU computer lab are currently located.
Although the original request was for $800,000, the appropriations committee had allocated only $162,000 to this project, which supporters called “crumbs” at the April town hall meeting.
“I operate under the belief that if someone offers you crumbs, there’s a loaf of bread somewhere,” Sen. Athan Papailiou said at Wednesday’s meeting.
Some senators argued the project deserved the entire $800,000 while others said it was unfair to give one proposal such a large chunk of the funds. At Wednesday’s meeting, the amount of the proposal had been raised to $300,000, an amount many Senators said should be enough to get the project started.
Sen. Micah Kosasa said he wanted to allocate the entire $800,000 to the new wing. He said he’d like to see the EMU return to a place where students from all cultures have a central gathering place to meet. Kosasa called the possible wing a “multicultural mall” where students could meet and hang out.
“If the mall had been like that when I was in high school, I’d probably have gotten into a lot less trouble,” he said.
Other Senators expressed that while they would like to fund the project entirely, there were too many other deserving projects.
“I think it’s a little selfish of this group to request the majority of the funding and to say their project is more important than every other proposal up there combined,” Sen. Natalie Kinsey said. “I think this is a compromise and if this is the way we can start helping them build their wing, it’s a great project, but it doesn’t deserve all the money.”
In the end, Senators allocated $300,000 to the project. Sens. Oscar Guerra, Chii-San SunOwen, Nate Gulley and Jennifer Lleras, all of whom have reported being active with the Multicultural Center, voted against the proposal because they argued it should receive the entire $800,000.
Sens. Erica Reiko Anderson and Kosasa also voted against the measure. Anderson argued there should be a number in between the two figures.
BIODIESEL VANS FOR CAMPUS RECYCLING
The proposal from Campus Recycling to purchase three biodiesel-powered vans at $58,000 each proved popular with the Senate.
This proposal came up early in the meeting and Sen. Jacqueline Justice suggested funding only two vans in order to save money for proposals that would come later in the agenda.
Kosasa said he would prefer to purchase all three vans because the vans currently in use are very old, unreliable and environmentally unfriendly.
“I think it’s ridiculous that we have a recycling center that’s polluting the earth,” he said.
At the end of the meeting, a motion by Lleras to give Campus Recycling money for an additional van passed by a large margin, bringing the group’s total to $174,000.
STUDENT RECREATION CENTER DEFICIT
ASUO Vice President Juliana Guzman was asked to break the tie on a vote to allocate $118,705 to offset a projected deficit for the Student Recreation Center. The Senate has spent much of the past few months hearing different ideas on how to solve the rec center’s budget woes and did not discuss it much further at the meeting.
After the vote on the proposal resulted in a 7-7 tie (Sens. Noor Rajabzadeh and Rosenberg abstained), Guzman cast an affirmative vote.
CLUB SPORTS OFFICE EXPANSION
Senators allocated $10,579 to Club Sports to purchase computer equipment and furniture for its office, which will be expanded soon. Although the request wou
ld not fund the actual expansion, Sen. Kyle McKenzie commented on the need for a larger office.
“I’ve spent many hours in the Club Sports office, and when you spend that much time with rugby guys, it starts to smell,” he joked.
Sen. Bryanna Mannis commended the group on its fundraising efforts, saying they “work tirelessly” to raise money for trips before coming to the Senate.
“I just think this is a good way to give back to them,” she said. “Show them that their hard work is definitely warranted.”
SEMINAR IN LATIN AMERICAN PHILOSOPHY
A proposal to fund a seminar in Latin American philosophy, which supporters said would lead to the creation of courses in the subject, was also popular. Senators voted unanimously to fund the $20,000 proposal.
UO BIODIESEL INITIATIVE
After a strong showing of support for biodiesel vans for Campus Recycling, Senators also approved a proposal to build a small biodiesel processor for the campus. Only Sen. Jeremy Ebner voted against the $12,500 allocation.
MILLER THEATRE COMPLEX
Students from the Department of Theatre Arts who braved the entire seven-hour meeting were rewarded for their efforts when the Senate voted to support a $100,000 upgrade to the Robinson Theatre.
Construction on a new theater complex is set to begin May 11. The phase of this project that will be funded by the ASUO will retrofit the Robinson Theatre with new seating to provide better sight lines and will improve the acoustics of the building. It will also address issues such as safety concerns, new fire-vent doors and better access for people with disabilities.
EMU EQUIPMENT UPGRADE
Finally, the Senate voted unanimously to allocate $100,000 to the EMU to purchase audio-visual equipment for rooms in the building. Jessi Steward, the University scheduling manager, said the equipment, which includes projectors and screens similar to those already in classrooms, would allow the EMU to schedule more conferences because people who use the rooms need to give presentations.
Steward said in the long run, this will save students money because the EMU will not have to pay students to set up the equipment that currently has to be borrowed from the EMU. She said it will bring in money because more people will schedule rooms that have higher-tech equipment.
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