^ Programs Finance Committee
Committee examines its viewpoint neutrality
Six groups budgets were approved; the Spencer View
Tenants'council received funding after a year without it
BY MORIAH BALINGrr
NEWS REPORTER
“I think I can hear crickets,” ASUO
President Adam Petkun said during
one of the lengthy pauses during last
Thursday’s Programs Finance
Committee hearings.
It was relatively quiet for the PFC,
to say the least, as the budgets of six
groups were approved.
The meeting, however quiet, held
an air of tension as the committee
wrangled over the ASUO Executive’s
six-figure budget for nearly an hour.
PFC Vice Chair Mason Quiroz criti
cized the budget for allotting more
money for travel than for Weaving
New Beginnings, an event meant to
orientate racial minority students to
the University.
“As you know, we have a problem
with diversity,” Quiroz said. “You
spend more on travel than you do on
a multicultural event.”
But PFC Chair Persis Pohowalla
quickly countered that Quiroz’s as
sessment was not viewpoint-neutral.
“That’s not viewpoint-neutral,”
Pohowalla said. “You’re
judging content.”
ASUO Controller Mike Martell
added that the executive actually
“spends quite a bit of money on
multicultural events. ”
The committee encountered anoth
er snag regarding two stipend posi
tions for the International Career Net
work Committee. Sherman said the
committee should be more judicious in
allotting stipends, especially given the
PFC’s dire financial situation.
“There really is no longer volun
teerism in student government,” PFC
member Mike Sherman said. “I don’t
see why this committee can’t func
tion without stipends. ”
In the end, however, most mem
bers agreed that the amount of work
the two positions entail warranted
the stipends. The $305,250 budget
was passed with Sherman as the
lone dissenter, for a .14 percent de
crease. The budget included
$102,075 for the Oregon Student As
sociation, a statewide lobbying
group for students.
PFC member Jael Anker-Lagos
commended the executive for tight
ening its budget in light of the
dire financial straits the PFC
is experiencing.
“I think the executive was very re
sponsible for decreasing their budg
et,” she said.
The PFC also allotted $28,389 for
the University Crisis Center for an
impressive 15.76 percent. Student
volunteers run the center and an
swer phone calls for students deal
ing with crises.
The Native American Student
Union had its budget of $17,377
approved a 2.08 percent increase. The
PFC was unable to come to a decision
during NASU’s last hearing due to in
junctions placed on three members.
The Young Women’s Christian As
sociation received $7,178, a 2.03 per
cent increase. The increase includes
additional money for the Race
Against Racism, an event hosted by
the group to raise consciousness
about racism in the community.
Quiroz, who serves as the group’s
racial justice coordinator, said he
hopes the event will grow to the size
of Eugene’s premier running events.
“It’s the only program that ad
dresses racism directly,” he said.
“This is an event that encapsulates
the University. ”
The Chinese Student Association
had a stipend position reinstated for
a budget of $9,029, a 16.73 percent
increase, which also included addi
tional funds for more programming,
The Spencer View Tenants’ Coun
cil, which lost its funding last year, re
ceived $248. The group has been
hampered by a dearth of leadership,
and the current group chair, Kristi
Durant, is not a University student.
But Durant said the group main
tains a lot of programming in spite of
not having a budget.
“The programming is a way to get
all the residents involved,” she said.
“It really builds community.”
Sherman appeared apologetic for
the group’s financial situation.
“Unfortunately, if we based the
funding on how much you care, the
cost would be exponential,” he said.
At the final hearing, for the Stu
dents of the Indian Subcontinent,
the group received the executive
recommendation of $7,062, a
slight increase.
“Well if you’re happy, I’m happy,”
PFC member Khanh Le said before
initiating the vote.
The East Campus Tenants Council,
which failed to submit a budget, re
ceived no money.
moriahbalingit@ dailyemerald, com
OSPIRG: Part of Willamette River is a Superfund project
Continued from page 4
Lane County Commissioner Peter
Sorenson, a University alumnus, re
called an excursion from his student
days when groups from the geography
departments at the University and Ore
gon State University made a joint raft
trip from Eugene to Corvallis.
“That was pretty memorable, to be
able to raft down a river that was con
sidered toxic only 10 years earlier,”
Sorenson said.
However, the river has become pol
luted again. Lawrence said the river is
currently designated as a federal Su
perfund project for a five-mile stretch
in Portland.
Lawrence said while there is a sys
tem in place requiring polluters to ap
ply for waste discharge permits, the
system is inadequate because the fees
the polluters pay don’t even cover the
cost of issuing the permits.
Also, he said there is a backlog of
expired permits, some expired for as
long as five years.
“In a real sense, our taxpayer dollars
are subsidizing their privilege to dis
charge waste into the river,” Lawrence
said.
Sorenson said that since McCall left
office, Oregon governors have contin
ually filled pollution regulation com
mittees with representatives of the in
dustries the committees are supposed
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to be regulating.
“That has to stop if we’re going to
be serious about cleaning up the
Willamette River,” Sorenson said.
“That kind of conflict of interest has to
stop.”
State Sen. Floyd Prozanski, D-Eu
gene, said river pollution is visible to
the naked eye at mixing zones and ar
eas where chemicals run from a pipe
into the river and mix with the river
water.
He mentioned a mixing zone on the
south side of the pedestrian bridge
connecting to Valley River Center as
particularly egregious.
“You can see the actual discol
oration in the river,... and sometimes
the odor is overwhelming,” Prozanski
said.
Prozanski said the Senate is work
ing on a bill, Senate Bill 555, that will
require toxic substances discharged at
mixing zones.
“Individuals will know exactly first
hand what is being discharged into the
river,” Prozanski said.
Sorenson said industries claim the
Senate Democrats’ attempts to phase
out mixing zones will lead to financial
disaster.
“That, to me, is an excuse,” Soren
son said. “It’s not the time for wait and
see, it’s the time for action.”
evasylwester@ dailyemerald, com
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IN BRIEF
Anti-Syrian protesters
make presence known
BEIRUT, Lebanon — Several
thousand anti-Syrian protesters
took to Beirut’s streets late Sunday
in defiance of a government ban,
while a visiting U.S. official kept up
Washington’s pressure on Syria by
calling on it to withdraw its 15,000
troops from Lebanon following die
assassination of former Prime Min
ister Rafik Hariri earlier this month.
The protest came ahead of Mon
day’s scheduled vote of confidence
in the pro-Damascus government
of Prime Minister Omar Karami,
which is under intense pressure to
find Hariri’s killers.
— The Associated Press
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