Senate confirms budget
■ The Student Senate fills
three ASUO Elections Board
positions, two senate seats
By Jeremy Lang
Oregon Daily Emerald
The Student Senate was kept
busy last night confirming a new
budget and positions but not all of
them passed.
The Senators didn’t confirm
Emily Sedgwick to the Projects Fi
nance Committee Senate Seat af
ter Senators asked her about her
personal position regarding the
student incidental fee. She said it
was important to answer the ques
tions, even though she was not re
quired to.
“I feel some of the questions
were inappropriate, but I chose to
answer them anyway. My person
al views don’t conflict with my
ability to legislate,” she said.
Sedgwick serves on the PFC,
which is the group that regulates
all University student programs’
budget proposals.
The PFC seat will remain va
cant until the ASUO Executive
hires another applicant.
The Senate asked similar ques
tions to Daniel Vergamini, the ap
pointee for the ASUO Constitu
tional Court. Specifically, some
Senate members wanted to know
his opinion on whether students
should have the right not to pay
part of the incidental fee if it will
fund groups with which they per
sonally disagree.
Vergamini chose not to answer
the questions without researching
the issue further. As a result, the
Senate decided to table, or post
pone, confirming him until they
had more information about him.
Although the ASUO Executive
is responsible for hiring all the ap
plicants for confirmation, ASUO
Vice President Mitra Anoushira
vani said she was happy to see the
Senate didn’t instantly approve
someone to such an important
and long-standing position.
‘I’m glad
Student
Senate
the Senate
isn’t taking
anything at
face value,”
Anoushira
vani said.
The Sen
ate did ap
point Abbey
Feasel, Nate
Jolly, Char
lotte Nisser
and Bennett Lacy to the ASUO
Elections Board along with Aman
da Schultz to the Senate journal
ism seat and Peter Watts to the
Senate graduate law seat.
On the financial side, the Sen
ate approved the PFC benchmark
of 3.5 percent for the year. The
benchmark means the PFC will re
ceive 3.5 percent more money this
year from increases to the inciden
tal fee. Sen. Shantell Rice said the
entire increase comes from spend
ing mandated by the state of Oregon.
Added to the 3.5 percent, the
Senate approved a zero percent
benchmark for University student
programs.
“We’re setting the benchmark
for student programs at zero per
cent so they don’t think it gives
them the opportunity to increase
their budgets by that 3.5 percent,”
Rice said.
She added she expects the
amount each student pays in inci
dental fees to increase only slightly.
The Senate also approved three
special money requests, including
Who: The University Student Senate.
What: The Senate confirmed four
people to ASUO programs and two
people to vacant Senate seats, but
didn’t confirm a new PFC Senate
Seat or ASUO Constitutional Court
member. They also approved the
PFC benchmark of 3.5 percent for
the year, with zero percent for Uni
versity programs. The benchmark
will cause an increase in the Student
Incidental Fee, but Sen. Shanteli Rice
said the increase per student will be
minimal.
When: 7 p.m. last night.
a request for $400 by the group
Students For Choice. The group
received zero funding for this year
because the group was not active.
Sen. Rice worried that by granting
the request, the Senate was setting
a dangerous precedent.
“I don’t want to have zero fund
ed groups thinking they can come
right to the Senate for money and
go around the PFC process,” Rice
said.
Senate President Jessica Timpa
ny added that a decision had not
been made yet on last week’s spe
cial request by the Black Student
Union for $463, which caused de
bate among the Senators on a rule
in the Green Tape Notebook. The
Senate Rules Committee will con
tinue to look at the rule and hope
fully clarity it. In the meantime,
the BSU’s request remains tabled.
The Student Senate is the leg
islative branch of the ASUO and
handles financial issues regarding
student programs. The Senate
meets at 7 p.m. every Wednesday
night in the EMU Board Room,
third floor. All students can attend
these meetings.
EMU funding needs
increase for services
■ The 3.7 percent increase
covers staff salary increases,
health care and programming
By Jason George
Oregon Daily Emerald
At Wednesday’s meeting, the
EMU Board Budget Committee
came one step closer to nailing
down a 2000-2001 budget that
would provide additional funds
to many EMU programs and ser
vices through the student inci
dental fee.
According to the proposed
budget, the EMU would need a
3.7 percent increase in funding to
continue with current services.
This works out to an additional
$95,569 from the incidental fee,
raising the collection of the fee to
$2.68 million. The EMU is using
$2.58 million of the total inciden
tal fee for fiscal year 1999-2000.
The increases are a result of a
$40,000 hike in current staff
salaries, which accounts for al
most half of the increased funding.
Though smaller than the salary
increase, medical contributions
for health care are the most unex
pected increase, at approximate
ly $25,000, said Susan Racette,
EMU associate director and busi
ness manager. “[Medical contri
butions] were fairly stable for sev
eral years so that’s why we are
surprised,” she added.
Contributions will be $470 per
month to all staff.
The equipment reserve and
utility rate are two additional fac
tors that would contribute to the
increase.
In response to the budget goals,
the EMU administration and pro
grams also presented a wish list of
projects they would like to fi
nance, The administration is ask
ing for about $25,000 to increase
the salaries of the marketing coor
dinator and the grant writer.
“The grant writer has been very
successful for the EMU and the
ASUO,” said EMU Director Dusty
Miller.
In addition, the administration
solicited $3,045
for program
ming, promo
tion for Intro
DUCKtion, the
Campus Cash
program, infor
mational out
reach, the annu
al giving campaign and
programming and promotion for
the Week of Welcome.
The Cultural Forum requested
an additional $25,700 to provide
more support for student-initiat
ed programs.
EMU Childcare and Develop
ment asked for $4,000 to help cov
er a 1 percent subsidy rate in
crease.
Lastly, Facilities Services is
calling for $7,500 to replace tables.
Event Support Services, The
Outdoor Program, Scheduling
Services and the EMU Ticket Of
fice are not asking for additional
funds, choosing to remain at the
current service level.
Budget committee members
will meet again on Tuesday to se
lect a budget that they will pre
sent to the entire EMU Board and
the Student Senate for approval
on Wednesday.
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