Student Senate rejects requests to transfer funds
The senators voted unanimously
Wednesday against a proposal by
the Black Law Student Association
to share funds with another group
By Jared Paben
Senior News Reporter
Seemingly simple fund transfers riled the
ASUO Student Senate meeting Wednesday
night. There was debate over limitations on
groups sharing student money to pay for staff
and the uses of fundraising money for putting
on events.
The Senate overwhelmingly rejected a re
quest from the Black Law Student Association
to transfer $350 to the Coalition Against En
vironmental Racism with a vote of 0-15. Moe
Spencer, BLSA director, said BLSA agreed to
transfer extra funds to CAER to help the group
compensate a third co-director who was
added earlier in the year, worked for awhile
and was later dropped.
Sen. Kevin Day criticized BLSA and CAER
for the request, saying student groups can't
change the stipend model created by ASUO.
The Asian Pacific American Student Union's
request for surplus funds to put on an upcom
ing event was also rejected after senators de
cided the group should first use its fundrais
ing money to put on the event before asking
the Senate for more student money.
APASU co-directors Kit Myers and Lydia
Koo asked for $275 of surplus money to help
pay for a theater performance for an upcom
ing event. Myers said he and Koo didn't want
to tap into their fundraising funds because
they wanted to retain that money as a "safety
net" for next year. Myers said they expect to
have done about $ 1,500 in fundraising by the
end of the year.
Sen. Steven Lockfield said that having a safe
ty net is a good idea, but the group could prob
ably spare $275 from the fundraising account.
Day agreed, saying it is fiscally irresponsible
to ask for funds for an event when a group has
sufficient fundraising money.
Sen. Rodrigo Moreno-Villamar said he
found Day's comment "offensive at least,"
and that such insensitive remarks contribute
to the unfriendly face the Senate presents to
student groups.
Day responded saying he realized the phras
ing was a little harsh, but groups should use
fundraising money first.
Sen. Kevin Curtin agreed with Lockfield and
Day and said student groups should use their
fundraising money first and ask the Senate for
additional funds if they run short.
ASIJO President-elect Adam Petkun spoke
to senators, telling them the Oregon State
Board of Higher Education is proposing to
eliminate the tuition plateau. I le appealed to
senators to call Gov. Ted Kulongoski's office
and leave a message voicing their support for
the plateau. Kulongoski is now president of
the board.
The Senate also released $1,000 to the
ASUO Women's Center for a spoken word
artist, $50 to the Latino/a Law Student Associ
ation for food to welcome next year's minority
students, $641 to Kultura Pilipinas, $254 to
the Muslim Student Association, $25 to APA
SlI, $100 to the Ad Club and $686 to the
African Student Association.
Contact the campus/federal politics reporter
atjaredpaben@dailyemerald.com.
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Director hopes to expand
Erb Essentials this summer
EMU convenience store Erb Es
sentials is looking to expand its se
lection of products following the re
cent decision to ban tobacco sales
from the store.
EMU Food Service Director John
Costello said the store will work to
add new product lines over the next
few months. One of the products he
hopes to add is a sushi display, which
an outside supplier would fill daily.
He said he will have to wait until
the end of the school year to evaluate
the store's budget and profitability be
fore making plans. He hopes Erb Es
sentials will have $ 15,000 to $20,000
to spend on refurbishing the store
and adding 400 square feet to it,
which will give it a "cleaner" and
"fresher" look.
Costello told the Emerald on April
29 that the impact of the tobacco ban
will potentially decrease secondary
sales, which are products bought in
addition to tobacco products. Me
added that the store will lose about
$ 100,000 in sales and $25,000 in rev
enue because of the ban.
Costello said most of the changes
in products and store appearance will
happen over the summer and Erb Es
sentials will no longer sell tobacco by
the time students return in the fall.
— Lisa Catto
Scholars will discuss 9/11
aftermath Saturday
Surveillance, gendered militarism,
violence in the media and other issues
of post-Sept. 11 America are just some
of the topics several visiting scholars
will address in the ethnic studies
spring symposium.
"After 9/11: The New Militarism
and the Question of Belonging" a se
ries of keynote speeches and discus
sions also will feature a talk by San
Francisco International Asian Amer
ican Film Festival director Chi-hui
Yang, and the screening of Jason
DaSilva's 2004 documentary "Lest
We Forget. *
The free one-day symposium will
take place Saturday in the EMU Ben
Linder Room from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
and will feature speeches by ethnic,
gender and post-colonial studies
scholar Kum-Kum Bhavnani and
Moustafa Bayou mi.
"The events of Sept. 11,2001 have
shaken the stability and coherence
of the United States in ways that sur
pass the tumultuous period of the
Vietnam War and the social move
ments of that era," a press release for
the event stated.
The symposium is co-sponsored by
the Multicultural Center Ed Coleman
Series, the Coalition Against Environ
mental Racism, the Center on Diver
sity and Community and the Center
for the Study of Women in Society.
Visiting ethnic studies Professor
Nerissa Bake, an organizer of the
event, said she hopes the symposium
will be a public intellectual discussion
of criticisms of the war on terror and
the war in Iraq.
"We hope to bring immigrant is
sues into the conciseness of students
and community members," Balce
said. "Asian and Arab immigrants are
being targeted and racially profiled.
We hope the symposium brings sup
port for immigrant rights."
Multicultural Center co-director
Alex Gonzalez said he looks forward
to the symposium to "find out how
different communities are being af
fected."
"It will be interesting to find out
what other scholars are working on,"
he said. "It's going to help further my
studies by getting different perspec
tives."
The afternoon panel discussion at
2 p.m. will include scholars Peter
Chua, Robyn M. Rodriguez, Nina Ha,
Mariam Lam and Irum Sheikh.
— Lennon Bergland
II am-10 pm Sunday-Thursday '^f
11 am-11 pm Friday-Saturday ^
Valley River Center • 541-683-9100
Full Bar
Daily Specials
Casual fun
atmosphere
Great food
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