Members of the Oregon Commentator staff said they will file a grievance with the ASUO Constitution Court tomorrow, asking the court to approve the publication’s mission statement and overturn an earlier decision by the ASUO Programs Finance Committee.
On Jan. 18, PFC postponed voting on the Commentator’s 2002-03 budget because members of the committee objected to the campus publication’s mission statement on the grounds that it advocated political views.
According to PFC member Joe Streckert, the ASUO Green Tape Notebook prohibits groups from receiving student funds if they are affiliated with a political party.
Commentator publisher Bret Jacobson called PFC’s decision “an outrageous attempt to censor a student publication.”
He said the Commentator’s mission statement has been the same for more than 17 years, and it expresses a political philosophy, not an alliance with a political party.
“The PFC’s error in judgment …
is making a logical leap between a philosophy and a legal affiliation,” he said.
Streckert said he would present evidence to the court that PFC’s decision violated the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Southworth v. University of Wisconsin. The Southworth case established that student fees must be allocated to groups through a politically neutral process.