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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 10, 2001)
Programs Financing The ASUO Programs Finance Committee has committed $239,667 so far for next year’s program budget. That represents a 11 percent increase over last year’s funding — slightly more than the PFC’s 3 percent benchmark. % CHANGE $ CHANGE ORGANIZATION 2001-02 2000-01 FROM THIS YEAR FROM THIS YEAR Asian Pacific American Law Student Assoc. $535 Oregon Law Students' Public Interest Fund $2,143 $805 50% $270 Minority Law Student Association Athletic Department Finance Committee" Students of the Indian Subcontinent $2,143 0% $1,018 $0 $1,616 59% $598 $2,457 n/a $2,457 International Law Students Association $4,759 n/a Pre-Veterinary Club $1,340 $4,759 $1,230 n/a $300 -$110 Chinese Students and Scholars Association $2,522 Legal Services $119,375 $0 n/a -$300 n/a n/a n/a Office of Student Advocacy Total $132,950 11% $90,450 $13,575 $93,707 4% $217,683 $3,257 $239,667 11% $24,506 PFC approves budgetary increases By Lisa Toth Oregon Daily Emerald The ASUO Programs Finance Committee completed the second night of its annual budget process Tuesday, approving budgets for eight groups, denying one group any money for next year and tabling another group’s budget hearing indefinitely. The seven-member committee al locates student incidental fee mon ey to more than 100 ASUO Pro grams, which include international student groups, student govern ment and other groups like the Ore gon Marching Band. Although the PFC has only con cluded two nights of budget hear ings they have allotted an average of 11 percent more. The biggest budget increase of $132,950 was allocated to ASUO Legal Services. Director of ASUO Legal Services Ilona Koleszar said this additional money will be uti lized to attract and retain law clerks with market-rate pay. ASLJO Student Senate President Peter Watts supported the PFC’s de cision to increase the budget for the Asian Pacific American Law Stu dent Association by $270. “I think this group has been far more visible on campus this year,” Watts said. Students of the Indian Subconti nent, a group newly recognized on campus by the ASUO, was allocat ed an increase of $4,759 in funding from the PFC to meet their budget requests. Members of SIS said they intend to increase fundraising for programming expenses. SIS Presi dent Shruti Shah said the group wants to increase cultural diversity on campus with the money they have been allocated. “Since we are a new organiza tion, I didn’t expect that [the PFC] would be so fair and understand ing,” Shah said. “I was pleased with the way things turned out.” In contrast to those groups who presented budget requests, the Pre Veterinary Club failed to appear for the budget hearing. As a result, the PFC voted not to fund the group for next year. The PFC tabled the budget hear ing for the Chinese Students and Scholars Association until more in formation is gathered about CSSA’s account transactions. Groups have five business days to appeal the budgets approved for them by the PFC. That process will commence after the initial PFC hearings have been completed. Commons continued from page 1 new furnishings, convenient facili ties and an option to have high speed Internet, the Commons was a big hit and had a high student de mand in its opening months. But for some tenants, sour im pressions began even before they moved in. Because of conflicts within the contracting company hired to build the apartments, many of the buildings were not finished on time. An unlucky group of stu dents were forced to choose be tween staying at the Red Lion Inn or finding other living arrangements, paid for by the Commons, for al most a month until all of the apart ments were completed. Jennifer Monin, a junior bio chemistry major, chose to stay in the hotel. She said this surprise caused many inconveniences, in cluding commuting problems. Monin has since moved out. “We got a letter only days before we were supposed to move in to tell us the apartments weren’t ready,” she said. “It got my year off to a real ly bad start.” But even after an extra month’s time to finish the establishment, the tenements’ condition still didn’t match the extravagant vision adver tisements had presented in earlier months, according to some tenants. Some complained that the apart ments were put together in a rush and others were disappointed to learn that the high-speed Internet option was unavailable. Another prior resident, junior ed ucation major Allie Blakely, expe rienced problems from the first day she moved in. “We had no beds, no chairs and no microwaves like they said we’d have, and it took awhile to get them,” she said. “The building was very poorly made and very dirty. Even though I was the first tenant, there were holes in the wall that you could tell had been patched over, and the paint on the walls looked like primer. We also had ants.” Addressing the problems But many of these issues were out of the management’s hands, accord ing to Gary Mosburg, regional man ager of Capstone Properties, the na tional company that owns the University Commons. “There were problems with the construction company ...and a lot of furniture was back ordered,” he said. “But a lot of people were com pensated one way or another.” Commons manager Bryant added that management has changed the paint used for the walls this year. “It wasn’t primer, but it was a very flat, thin paint,” she said. “If you just touch it the wrong way it does make marks ... But we’re us ing a different kind now.” Although advertisements present ed an option to pay an extra fee for high-speed Internet, it wasn’t avail able until the middle of spring term. Chris Davidson, junior philoso phy major, said that the manage ment’s vague answers to these kinds of issues were the biggest problem. “We could never get a solid an swer from them,” he said. “When I asked about the Internet for exam ple, they would say ‘just a little longer.’ They could have just said they didn’t really know what was going on.’” Many residents said that the management didn’t respond to problems because the majority of tenants were students. "There was an overwhelming feeling that the management jerked us around because we were stu dents,” Monin said. “They didn’t treat us like adults.” Bryant, who became the manager in June, said although last year’s management may have neglected duties, she responds to manners as quickly as possible and has never put in less effort because of the stu dents’age group. “If people file work orders, we try to get them done within 24 hours,” she said. “Most problems are ad dressed right away. ” But some students said that even while Bryant was manager, manage ment didn’t take care of some mainte nance problems in a timely manner. Christen Eustice, a junior general science major who was a tenant in summer, said management contin uously ignored her complaints “We had a broken window when we moved in, in early July,” she said. “It never got fixed ... We also had a bathroom floor that was sinking. A guy came and said the concrete need ed to be re-done but then never came back. And we wrote letters, but the management nevergot back to us.” But Bryant said she never heard about these complaints. Bitterfeelings Another concern tenants had even after the new management took over involved bills from the Eugene Water and Electric Board. EWEB sends gener al power biUstotheCommonsandbills for specific apartments to the tenants themselves. But in this case, some ten ants found bills addressed to the Com mons taped to their doors with notes from management telling them to pay. Bryant said this happened be cause after some students moved out, their electric bills were added to the bill Commons owed for the vacant apartment time. The issue became even more con fusing when students who asked EWEB about the unexplained bills were told they didn’t have to pay them. Cathy Hamilton, a representative from EWEB, said they would never “pass on” a bill from students to the complex, and that the Commons management doesn’t have the au thority to tell students they owe part of the bill. “We only bill Commons for areas like hallways or when the apartment is vacant because they agreed to that,” she said. “We bill the individ ual units to the customer and if they move we try to find their forwarded address. We wouldn’t just give their bill to the property owner.” Despite work to improve by the new management, some previous tenants find it difficult to forget last year’s harsh experiences. Monin said it was a mistake to judge the apart ments by its image, and is happy that she doesn’t live there anymore. “I’m just so bitter about the whole thing,” she said. 010868 Experience Life Wednesdays 8:30 pm Education 176 http://gladstone.uoregon.edu/~asuoccc/ Call: 345-5799 Ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ and Athletes in Action Authentic Worship Connections Public Review Comment Session January 11, 2001 11:30-1:30 pm Lobby of the Erb Memorial Union The University Community is invited to participate in an Open House and Comment Session on future development of the campus along University Street between the entrance to Lawrence Hall and 18*1 Avenue. Participants will review the results of a previous planning workshop and images of possible future improvements and may offer comments. The consultants for the Study from the firm of Moore Icofano Goltsman, along with members of the User Group and University Planners will be available to discuss the project. Sponsored by the University Planning Office If you have questions call 346-5562 y/e*/ ptopfe. y/eV fun* y/e*/ eyperfence. Don't miss out. Work for your college paper. For more information on how to freelance for the Oregon Daily Emerald call 346-5511.
