Recent budget squeezes have brought intense pressures on the members of the Incidental Fee Committee, says
ASUO comptroller Alan Contreras This has caused IFC members to serve fewer terms, which cuts down on the
number of experienced officeholders.
IFC members suffer burnout
Burnout among Incidental Fee
Committee members in the last few
years is causing the office to lose
its continuity, says Alan Contreras,
ASUO comptroller
IFC members are serving fewer
terms, and the result has been a
loss of experienced officeholders,
says Contreras, the senior member
of ASUO
The committee in recent years
has dealt with limited budgets and
fiscal policies, which is more
straining than granting budget
increases, he says
Officeholders rarely run for re
election because of the pressures
during their terms, Contreras says
Some officials don't realize how
much work an ASUO position
requires and the constituent
pressures from ASUO-funded
programs, he adds
Contreras has experienced the
pressures from both sides
In 1979, he was assistant direc
tor for the Survival Center, and the
following year he was appointed to
the IFC to serve an unexpired term
Contreras ran for election and
won after his appointed term
ended The following year he was
assistant to the ASUO vice
president of finance
Last year he was ASUO budget
director and filled in as vice
president of finance and admin
istration when Jim Edmundson
resigned
Contreras also has been in
volved in politics outside the
University He has served as a
legislative intern in Salem and has
worked on many political
campaigns, the latest being Margie
Hendriksen's successful bid for
state senator
Contreras says more graduate
and law students are applying and
running for ASUO offices, which
adds valuable experience to the
offices
ASUO Pres C J Balfe says such
a practice is being emphasized
"In the past we ve hired people
while having only a small amount of
volunteers," he adds This year
we've opened up our door and are
emphasizing the teaching aspect
of ASUO ”
Contreras is an example of the
"ASUO experts'" Balfe hopes will
result from the open-door policy
"Alan is part of a dying breed,"
he says
Being the elder statesman of the
ASUO has its benefits, Contreras
says
"I've been given a sense of
perspective of what ASUO does
and doesn't do." Contreras says
"I've also become cynical about
expectations of student
government."
Students need to be more
practical in their expectations,
Contreras adds
The pressures and the limits of
student government may be
frustrating, but students still have
chances to initiate worthwhile
projects, he says
By Stephanie Lewis
and Rich Burr
Increases? IFC says no
Programs value service, won’t cut
Despite an Incidental Fee Committee
suggestion to prepare for budget cuts,
some ASUO-funded programs say they
will ask for increases
Although fewer students are
attending the University, the Survival
Center is benefiting the same amount of
students as in the past and has more
people involved, says Jack Kapuscinski,
program director Because of this, the
group will request an increased budget for
more student awareness, he says
"We aren’t doing it for selfish
reasons,” Kapuscinski says "We need to
educate people about being more efficient
in conservation methods "
The Gay and Lesbian Alliance will
request a small increase for telephone
expenses, says Barb Ryan, GALA co
director. Since the Gay Hotline folded,
more people have called the office for
assistance, she says
The Student Bar Association will sub
mit a budget request within a
'‘reasonable” amount of this year's
budget, says Steve Baldwin, SBA director
and former IFC member The program will
not inflate its request to absorb a possible
budget cut, he says
The SBA will request the IFC to con
sider special program projects outside of
the budget for funding, Baldwin adds.
One program director said his group
could absorb a 10-percent cut if
necessary
“We could continue to survive," says
Rod Navaroli, Political Science Student
Union director The program could only
fund its Mock Senate class, however, if
such a cut occurred, he says.
A larger cut would hurt the group,
Navaroli says
“We'd take a beating,” he says “I
don’t think the department would take any
money out of its budget to support us."
The PSSU is planning to eliminate its
speaker fund for next year because
speakers are too costly and the class
needs more money for printing and du
plication costs, Navaroli says
The Council for Exceptional Children
is planning on requesting the same budget
amount, says program president Mary
Gleason. If the program is cut, it will not be
able to function because of its small
budget ($133), she says.
It is uncertain whether this year's
allotment will be enough to sustain the
group, Gleason adds
Ryan says GALA cannot afford
another budget cut because even a small
reduction would be proportionally high
considering its $2,071 budget
Programs with fee-funded
newspapers may have that portion of their
budget cut, says IFC chairer Bart Hill.
Program newspapers should rely on
advertising to compensate for such
reductions, he says
"It would be a hassle,” Kapuscinski
says. "It would cut down on the amount of
articles "
The Survival Center would need to
hire someone to solicit advertisements for
its newspaper, The Advocate, he says. It is
difficult to get advertisers, Kapuscinski
adds
Baldwin, whose program publishes
The Dissent, agrees The publication
could not effectively attract adver
tisements because of its small, restrict
ed circulation, he says
The idea is reasonable for groups
having the capacity and paid personnel to
do it, Baldwin adds
By Rich Burr
Photo by Dave Kao
The IFC is trying to limit the number of programs requesting funds
Photo by Dave Kao
Bart Hill, chairer of the IFC. Questions whether the current support of students groups will be maintained.
Political groups, and groups with fee-funded newspapers, are the suggested groups to get cuts.
IFC asks groups to restructure
More academic programs are
asking for funds each year, con
tributing to the IFC's budget
problem. Hill says The committee
is looking for a policy to deal with
the trend, he says
“We've been discussing the
possibility of limiting the number of
academic groups,' Hill says
Politically-oriented programs
may be added to the examination
list, he says
“Political groups or a group that
has political ties or is pushing poli
tical issues is always closely
looked at." Hill says “It isn’t
always in the student's best
interests "
Fee-funded newspapers proba
bly will receive less money, he
says
Any group with a paper will be
forced or pressured to make up
more of their costs in advertising,"
says the Hill "They have a vehicle
for revenue raising."
The committee will continue
negotiating with the Athletic
Department about its budget, he
says
“What we might gain from nego
tiations, we might lose by letting
the State Board of Higher Ed or the
Administration set (the fee)," he
says
The IFC is striving to keep its
voting record consistent. Hill adds
The committee does not want to be
accused of playing favorites, he
adds
The committee also is contin
uing the two-year-old process of
defining its powers, he says. Hill
says this definition may reduce the
confusion about the committee’s
power, Hill says.
The committee will have to make
"hard and difficult decisions’’ on
policies and budget cuts while
keeping the programs efficient and
happy, he says.
And although the committee
would rather not raise incidental
fees, “the situation may dictate
otherwise,” Hill says.
If current budget projections
hold true, ASUO-funded organiza
tions will be cut, says Bart Hill,
Incidental Fee Committee chairer
Enrollment predictions forecast
further decreases, which means
less incidental fees to allocate to
programs. Hill says. Programs
should plan for budgets with less
money than this year's, he says
“Don't consider asking for
more,'' Hill says.
Programs will be scrutinized for
ways to make them more efficient
with less money, Hill says. The IFC
is not opposed to having more
groups on campus but is reluctant
to subsidize more programs, he
says.
If some programs can't handle
another budget cut, they may have
to restructure, Hill says Some
groups may have trouble merging
with other organizations because
of each group's uniqueness, but
the IFC doesn’t have the resources
to subsidize such programs, he
adds
By Rich Burr
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