|j^ Programs Finance Committee
12 groups denied
funding; budgets
approved for two
BYAYISHAYAHYA
NEWS EDITOR
Saturday was a quiet day for
the Programs Finance Committee.
The committee allocated funds to
two groups in straightforward
hearings and de-funded 12 others
that did not turn in budgets or
come to the hearing.
The PFC approved the University
Theater’s $32,000 budget, a 4.06 per
cent increase, with little debate.
Development Director Joseph
Gilg said the University Theater
has a long history on campus, en
tertaining local residents before the
symphony, ballet and opera were
established in town. Through the
years it has moved toward focus
ing on the quality rather than the
quantity of productions.
“We try to do a very eclectic
range of plays,” Gilg said, adding
that the theater offers not only en
tertainment, but a valuable train
ing ground for students.
The executive recommendation
initially proposed only $1,250 for
the theater’s Mad Duckling Sum
mer Theatre, which features
shows for young children and
families. Gilg, who had requested
$2,500, said he was disappointed by
the recommendation because the
program has been getting $2,500
through requests to the ASUO Sen
ate, and he had the impression that
funding for the program would
continue to increase.
“I feel betrayed by this,” he said.
ASUO Finance Coordinator
Mike Martell said he arrived at
the $1,250 figure because “all
recommendations are being kept
at current service levels. ”
However, PFC Member Dan
Kieffer made a motion to increase
the amount to $2,500, saying
that it was evident the group had
done a good job with its money
in the past to fund the Mad
Duckling series.
The Oregon Voice received
$10,016, a 1.5 percent increase.
Editor in chief Jennifer Hill said
the money would help the feature
magazine, which publishes seven
issues a year, buy licensed
computer software and other
supplies. The magazine also hopes
to host issue release parties to help
publicize the product.
“We’ve been really diligent
about spending our money and
gaining the trust of the PFC back,”
Hill said.
Oregon Voice chose to cut down
its telephone and long distance
budget so they could have more
funding in other areas, PFC
Controller Carie Henderson said,
adding that the group had spent
its money well.
“They put out a great product with
PFC, page 7
PFC increases OSPIRG budget
in quiet meeting on Thursday
The Sustainable Business Symposium also saw its
budget grow to meet its 'ambitious aspirations'
BY MORIAI1 BALINGIT
NEWS REPORTER
The meeting was supposed to be
the blockbuster Programs Finance
Committee event of the year — a bu
reaucratic episode so dramatic and so
epic that last year’s OSPIRG Campus
Organizer Ben Unger compared it to
“The Lord of the Rings.”
But Thursday night’s Oregon Stu
dent Public Interest Research
Group’s PFC hearing fell far short of
expectations, to the relief of many
who showed up to support the
group. This year’s meeting, which
resulted in a 4.17 percent funding in
crease from last year, drew a few
more than 20 people and lasted less
than two hours.
Kit Douglass, OSPIRG program
coordinator, said before the meeting
she was confident the meeting
would go well because OSPIRG
worked especially hard this year to
work out any kinks in its budget
before the hearing.
Last year, OSPIRG was nearly
defunded because of concerns over
the transparency of its budget.
“This year, we’ve worked to
make the budget easier to under
stand,” she said.
In fact, the group didn’t receive
its executive recommendation until
45 minutes before the meeting
because both parties were “still pro
viding information to one another,”
Douglass said.
ASUO Finance Coordinator Mike
Martell would not comment before
the meeting on whether OSPIRG had
received its recommendation.
The Executive came in with a rec
ommendation that would have de
creased the group’s budget, but
OSPIRG co-chair Stephanie Erickson
pointed out that the recommendation
was based on an incomplete audit,
an act she said didn’t make sense.
She added that the recommenda
tion was also based on the group’s
budget from fiscal year 2003-04,
when its budget was cut to
less than $100,000.
“We’re doing more programming.
We’re engaging more students.
It doesn’t make sense to cut us,”
she said.
ASUO Vice President Mena Ravas
sipour concurred, and added that it
was the PFC’s responsibility to use its
discretion and take these sorts of
circumstances into consideration.
“That’s part of the beauty of
being PFC, because that’s your job,”
she said.
PFC co-chair Mason Quiroz raised
concerns that the budget wasn’t
transparent enough. As a contract
group, OSPIRG provides its own
audits and has only one line item in
its budget, and the money is sent to
the group’s umbrella organization,
Oregon State Public Interest Research
Group. In the past, critics have said
this has allowed OSPIRG to shirk fis
cal accountability.
“It makes me uncomfortable to
fund them when I don’t know
where the money’s going,” he said.
Quiroz left the meeting before a
vote was called.
PFC member Jael Anker
Lagos countered that she felt the
group’s funding practices saved
students’ money.
“I want to think of OSPIRG’s
money being sent off campus as
saving University of Oregon students
money,” she said. “It’s going into a
big pool and being maximized. ”
The PFC fully funded all but one of
the group’s requested increases for a
$120,074 budget. OSPIRG’s request
for $13,000 for an additional environ
mental advocate was denied.
The Oregon Commentator, the
University’s conservative journal of
opinion, has long been a vocal critic
of OSPIRG. In fact, former Editor in
chief Owen Brennan Rounds sued
OSPIRG and the State Board of High
er Education in 1998 on the grounds
that the incidental fee violated his as
sociational first amendment rights by
funding OSPIRG.
The Oregon Commentator’s cur
rent editor in chief, Tyler Graf, criti
cized the PFC for its inconsistency
and said he felt OSPIRG wasn’t “ad
vantageous to the cultural or physical
development of students,” a neces
sary tenet for any student group to re
ceive incidental fee funding as de
fined by Oregon statutes.
“It’s simply a way for lobbyists in
Portland to get money from stu
dents,” he said. “The PFC is sending
a message that isn’t consistent.
They’ll nickel-and-dime other
groups, but they’ll give OSPIRG
over $100,000.”
Douglass responded that OSPIRG
has shown it is in fact beneficial
to students.
“It’s been proven year after
year that we play a vital role on
BUDGETS, page 7
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