PFC budget hearings leave executive dissatisfied
■ ASUO President Wylie
Chen is disappointed that
an executive coordinator
position will not be funded
By Simone Ripke
Oregon Daily Emerald
After weeks of Programs Fi
nance Committee hearings and
high-flying emotions, the ASUO
Executive is frustrated with the
outcome of its budget hearings.
The ASUO Executive received
a 2.01-percent increase, which
mostly covered mandated in
creases and did not allow for
reestablishing the position of an
executive coordinator.
ASUO President Wylie Chen
said he and Vice President Mitra
Anoushiravani had hoped to
reestablish the position, which
had helped 13 previous ASUO
executives conquer administra
tive and bureaucratic red tape.
Chen said this past year, he
and Anoushiravani have spent
too much time on the kind of bu
reaucratic work that was previ
ously done by the executive coor
dinator.
“We were not elected to be ad
ministrators and bureaucrats,”
Chen said. “We are elected to ad
vocate for students.”
Chen said the position of the
executive coordinator is crucial
to retain and increase the ac
countability of the ASUO, and in
his four years in the ASUO he
has seen the improvement the
position makes not only for the
executive, but for the entire
ASUO.
“I have seen this position make
IpfjllllGt stand that this
m Committee position would
the ASUO, but all ASUO programs.
“This position isn’t about the
executive,” Chen said. “If the ex
ecutive isn’t good, then it’s going
to affect every other program.”
But Chen said he understands
that PFC members and student
senators, who have never been
president or vice president, went
by their own experience with
student government and ruled
that the position was not needed.
“They can’t fully understand
the magnitude of what a position
like this could do,” Chen said.
“They have no idea what comes
across our desks.”
He said that although he and
Anoushiravani would not have
personally benefited from the po
sition during the rest of their
term, he had hoped to make the
huge differ
ences,” Chen
said.
He said PFC
members and
student senators
failed to under
not only benefit
ASUO better for the next execu
tive.
Anoushiravani said the posi
tion would have enabled the
ASUO Executive to get research
and information from someone
who was paid by them, rather
than other departments of the
University.
“I think [the PFC and senate]
are making a mistake,” she said.
She said she feels that not all
PFC and senate members made
an effort to read the ASUO Exec
utive’s budget proposal and ap
peal or ask questions that might
have helped clarify issues.
Anoushiravani said she was frus
trated with the PFC’s inconsis
tency in giving reasons for deny
ing the position. She also said
she feels the outcome of the
budget hearing would have been
different had it taken place earli
er in the process.
Project Saferide had proposed
an 8-percent budget increase for
the next fiscal year and received
a 5.6-percent increase, leaving
coordinators looking for fund
raising opportunities.
Sarah Cohn, a senior political
science major and co-director for
Project Saferide, which is run
through the ASUO Women’s
Center, said the program received
increases for payroll and van
maintenance which were the
most crucial, but was cut in oth
er line items it had hoped to in
crease.
“We got cut in some places
where we did not necessarily
want to get cut,” Cohn said.
Those areas include expenses
for printing and duplication, the
program’s main tool to spread the
word. However, Cohn said she felt
the hearing was fair and is confi
dent Project Saferide will be able to
make up for the difference through
extra fund-raising activities.
The Student Senate is another
group which did not receive the
increase it had requested. The
Student Senate’s budget for the
next fiscal year was decreased by
2.95 percent.
Student Sen. Jennifer Gree
nough said the senate had hoped
to increase its budget, mainly to
increase the stipends senators re
ceive. Although the PFC did not
approve of increasing the
stipends, Greenough said she
does not expect the PFC’s deci
sion to have much impact on
next year’s senate.
“I really don’t think the people
who are on senate do it for the
money,” she said.
But Sen. Spencer Hamlin is
less optimistic.
“I think it screws over low-in
come students and their opportuni
ty to serve on senate,” Hamlin said.
Senators currently receive $70
a month, and Hamlin said he
More money
The folfowinggroups received
large budget increases:
The Multicultural Center, with a
124-percent increase, from
$31,405 to $70,349
OUTLAWS, with a 37.5-percent in
crease, from $1,816 to $2,498
Programs and Assessments, with a
30.487-percent increase, from
$53,594 to $69,933
Westmoreland Tenants’ Council,
with a 48.786-percent increase,
from $1,236to $1,839
SOURCE: Programs Finance Committee
thinks a modest increase to $100
would have helped enable low
income students to run for sen
ate. He also said the PFC’s deci
sion not to increase the stipends
made him wonder how valuable
PFC members consider the Stu
dent Senate.
In addition, Hamlin said it has
been difficult retaining senate
members in the past few months.
“We have had a major problem
keeping a full senate,” he said.
Keeping the stipend at the cur
rent level will make keeping next
year’s senate complete a chal
lenge, Hamlin said.
Committee bases its decisions on three top priorities
■ Some groups, including
the ASUO Executive, believe
there were discrepancies,
but the PFC takes defense
By Eric Pfeiffer
Oregon Daily Emerald
Increased fiscal responsibility
or an attack on student’s cultural
prosperity? This is the primary
debate surrounding a sweeping
wave of change brought forth by
this year’s Programs Finance
Committee.
Groups such as the Interna
tional Students Association have
seen significant cuts to their
budgets, and, specifically in this
case, the ISA was denied its re
quest for a program coordinator
position.
“I don’t understand how they
can expect high-quality programs
when our budget is being drasti
cally cut, and they are not willing
to compensate our efforts,” Ying
Che Chen, office manager for the
ISA, said.
ASUO President Wylie Chen
believes the
budget cuts are
going to result
in negative con
sequences for a
large number of
programs and
University stu
dents. “These
cuts are going to
have huge effects on student pro
grams,” Chen said.
But members of the PFC con
tinue to defend their position.
“We base our decisions on
three priorities: How a group
spent its budget the year before,
what requests they are making
and the benchmark,” PFC mem
ber Emily Sedgwick said.
Although the PFC uses this set
of priorities in to judge the validi
ty and necessity of a group’s re
quest, members of the ISA do not
feel their group’s needs were tak
en into full consideration.
“They are only looking at the
numbers, not the issues behind
them,” Ying-Che Chen said.
Members of the PFC are also
frustrated because they believe
programs don’t understand the
limitations in the process of mak
ing budget changes.
“We gave [the ISA] the Interna
tional media resource coordina
tor position, but we can’t always
fulfill every group’s requests”
said PFC member Helen Stock
lin-Enright.
Also, Sedgwick pointed out
that the PFC did approve several
increases for groups, including
the ISA, that went behind their
own O-percent benchmark. “We
gave them a 6-percent increase,
while most groups had their
budgets cut,” Sedgwick said.
Sedgwick argues that the
benchmark is only one of several
factors that the PFC considers
throughout the budgeting
process. “The benchmark is al
ways in the back of our minds;
we use it as a guidance,” she
said.
Aside from the budget cuts
themselves, members of the ISA
have other problems with how
the PFC has run this year’s budg
et hearings.
“The process felt very awk
ward. We still don’t understand
why we were denied,” Alberto
DeAlbuquerque, co-director of
the ISA said.
He said he also feels that too
much attention is given to paper
work, instead of individual re
O-percent benchmark
In an attempt to meet its proposed
0*percent increase, the PFC:
Gave budget increases to 37
groups
Gave budget decreases to 57
groups
Funded six new student groups, in
cluding: the Arts Administration
Student Forum, theChessClub,
the Oregon Future lawyers Associ
ation, the Pre-Dental Club, the Pre
Veterinary Club, the Student par
ents Association
Source: Pro grams Finance Committee
quests. “I think they rely too
much on first impressions. We
gave them the budget numbers
they wanted, but they need to
Turn to Budgets, page 7
PFC
continued from page 1
DDS has been running seven
nights a week, using two vans on
busy nights. With the cut, howev
er, Wise said the service will not
be able to run Sunday through
Tuesday and there will only be
one van running on Wednesdays
and Thursdays and two on Fri
days and Saturdays.
Wise said DDS will have to let
employees go. He said PFC mem
bers said some of the positions,
such as navigators, are not neces
sary and others are overpaid.
Rice said the PFC thought DDS
provides a similar service to
Saferide, which is mostly operat
ed by volunteers. And although
the PFC understands that there is
a difference between the patrons
both services deal with, there
should be an alternative to DDS’s
current payroll expenses, such as
stipends or paying drivers per
shift, Rice said.
Wise pointed out that the posi
tion of the navigators is crucial to
listen to the radio, navigate the
way, go and get the patrons from
their party and control drunk pas
sengers who distract the driver.
Incidents where passengers have
tried to spray DDS drivers with
the fire extinguisher in the vans
have proved that navigators are
essential to protect the drivers
and the safety of the ride, Wise
said.
“I could not in good con
science send a single person to get
a carload of belligerent drunks,”
he said. “We had to really argue to
save that position.”
However, cuts in the amount
and quality of service will be in
evitable, Wise said.
Wise said employees deserve
adequate compensation because
of the hours they work and the
people they deal with.
The Student Bar Association’s
budget was also decreased by 30
percent. Paul Wagner, a third-year
law student and president of the
Student Bar Association said he
feels that PFC members did not
even listen to the presentation
about the group.
“The whole thing has just been
a complete sham,” Wagner said.
He said the Student Bar Associ
ation requested a» 2-percent in
crease to cover increases in office
supplies. Now, with a 30-percent
decrease, the group will have to
find other ways to cover basic ex
penses, Wagner said.
“We are going to have to cut
back quite a bit,” Wagner said.
He said he feels that being
heard by the PFC so late in the
process — especially after the
121-percent increase the MCC re
ceived — left little choice for the
PFC to do anything but make ma
jor cuts.
“Everyone after [the MCC] suf
fered,” he said.
He said he thinks the outcome
of the hearing would have been
different had they presented their
budget at the beginning of the
hearing process.
“It just seems like [the PFC is]
locked now, because they com
mitted to a 0-percent benchmark,”
he said.
The O-percent benchmark, ap
proved by the Student Senate last
term, was the PFC’s goal to have
no increase from last year to this
year’s budgets.
“We as a committee knew what
our benchmark was,” Rice said.
Nevertheless, the PFC granted an
overall increase of 5 percent for
unavoidable, mandated increases.
Emily Sedgwick, vice chair
woman of the PFC, said the com
mittee analyzed all groups’ budg
ets on the same criteria and made
an effort to be as impartial as hu
mans can possibly be.
“I would say that we are not
computers. We don’t spit out
numbers with complete impar
tiality, but we do try,” she said.
Land Air Water, which received
the 2-percent budget increase it
requested, has shared costs for
speakers and conferences in the
past with the SBA. Beth Dahl, a
third-year law student and the
treasurer for LAW, said that de
spite getting its budget increase,
her group will still be affected by
the SBA’s budget cut.
“That will probably hurt us
next year,” Dahl said.
Although the Coalition for En
vironmental Racism did not get a
budget cut, it had asked for a 9.8
percent increase and received a ID
percent increase. Matthew Peck
ham, a junior double-majoring in
environmental and international
studies and a co-director for
CAER, said the group would have
used the increase for speaker fees
and other expenses.
“We could have used that with
out a doubt,” Peckham said.
He said he was new to the pro
cedure this year and hopes to be
better prepared for next year’s
hearing.