Thursday night’s ASUO Program Finance Committee meeting concluded a week-long marathon of meetings as the committee trudged through six and a half hours of tense number crunching and negotiations.
Black Women of Achievement endured the longest hearing — more than an hour. Tensions rose in the room as the PFC examined the $4,000 budget. The group’s initial recommended allocation was damaged by “a bad spending year,” PFC Senator Khanh Le said.
But ASUO Controller Rosie Sweetman, acknowledged she wasn’t sure how transfers should factor into a group’s recommendation.
“I don’t know if it’s consistent across controllers,” she said.
Sweetman added that the previous year’s directors created a deficit in the group’s fundraising account. The initial allocation recommended a 13.5 percent decrease because of the group’s recent poor fiscal behavior.
After the PFC took the budget through multiple iterations, Vice Chair Mason Quiroz appeared baffled.
“I abstain. I’m confused now,” Quiroz said.
PFC Chair Persis Pohowalla appeared worn out by the lengthy meeting, at one point saying, “I’m sorry. I think I’m losing it.”
Part of the debate arose when some PFC members proposed dramatic increases, up to 27 percent, for BWA’s budget, but Sweetman emphasized the group’s fiscal history probably didn’t warrant such an increase.
However, Sweetman added the PFC should take into account the group’s spending habits in this fiscal year, which have been fairly good.
In the end, the PFC approved a $4,653 budget, a 24.2 percent increase, including $85 for Higher Learning College Shadow Day and $1,000 for the Ebony Man Showcase formal.
GLOSS, the organization of graduate students in the linguistics department, received a 13.4 percent increase for a total budget of $710.
Dance Oregon received a 10.4 percent increase for a total of $3,448. PFC members were hesitant to help fund the group’s trip to the American College Dance Festival after the group couldn’t go last year and let the allocated money go to waste; PFC members alloted them $200 to subsidize costs.
The Criminal Law Association’s budget was decreased due to past poor leadership and fiscal irresponsibility.
The PFC decided to go with the executive recommendation of $282, a 48.7 percent decrease from last year.
ASUO Controller Will Richard praised law student organization Family Law in Practice’s “positive growth.”
But Quiroz took issue with FLIP’s acronym. “Be careful about your acronym,” he said. “It’s a derogatory name for Filipinos.”
The organization’s leaders agreed to reconsider the name. FLIP received a total budget of $370 to be used for speakers and networking socials.
Recently reborn Art Law Forum, inactive for about six years, had its hearing after the BWA hearing; Quiroz criticized the PFC for not being consistent.
“We’re funding this group 100 percent without scrutinizing the group,” said Quiroz.
The PFC allocated the full executive recommendation of $284 to help fund an exhibit and speakers.
African Student Association hearing followed and Pohowalla lauded the group for its fundraising efforts.
“You guys have done insane amounts of fundraising,” she said. “I think we should factor that in.”
ASA Director Haben Woldu agreed to forgo a director’s stipend and a phone for ASA’s office to ensure that maximum funding went into African Culture Night and other programs.
“We’re representing our continent and we’re willing to do anything to put it on,” she said.
The PFC allotted the group $1,959, a generous $400 increase above the executive recommendation, for a 44.9 percent increase.
The Jewish Student Union’s budget passed with little debate. Richard noted the group raised an impressive 60 percent of its budget. The group received $7,022, a 3.4 percent increase.
Amnesty International’s budget showed a troubled fiscal past. Last year the group was zero-funded, and in an attempt to get funding back, the group put money from fundraising in line items to demonstrate it could be fiscally responsible. Unfortunately, when the group failed to spend $80 of the budget, the money, raised by the group’s members, went back to the incidental fee surplus.
“I think it’s too bad you lost the $80,” said Le. “Maybe you can try and get it back from Senate.”
The Japanese Student Organization received $4,759, a 16.24 percent increase.

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