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Oregon Daily Emerald
An independent newspaper
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Since 1900 \ Volume 106, Issue 111 \ Tuesday, March 1, 2005
|j! Programs Finance Committee
Stipends overhauled for budget fix
The new stipend model alters the number of paid positions a group
is allowed based on the amount of money spent on programming
BY PARKER HOWELL
SENIOR NEWS REPORTER
‘ The committee that allocates money to stu
dent groups cut the number of paid positions
some groups can receive as part of a massive
overhaul of the stipend model it approved on
Monday to address its budgetary woes.
As part of the Programs Finance Committee’s
last-minute effort to rectify overspending its
budget by 1.9 percent, the stipend changes will
eliminate a 2.25 percent payroll assessment by
replacing payroll stipends with scholarships,
saving an estimated $7,000 in the budget.
The changes establish a scale for how much
money a group must spend to qualify for paid
positions and alter the amount some group
leaders will be paid.
The PFC is also using the ASUO Executive’s
budget recommendations to determine how
much to give most groups, but will use its own
recommendations for contract groups, such as
the Oregon Daily Emerald, and departments,
such as the Student Recreation Center.
Committee members won’t know until
Thursday if the recommendations will bring
the committee’s budget below the 7 percent
maximum increase it’s allowed by Green Tape
Notebook rules. The PFC must submit its
budget by March 7 in order for the Student
Senate to vote on it during its March 9 meeting.
Under the old stipend model, group leaders
and elected members of the student government
received stipends based on the number of hours
they worked and the level of responsibility
required by their positions. The new model es
tablishes three categories, giving top-level gov
ernment leaders $200 a week, lower-ranking
government leaders $175 a week, and group
leaders and some government members $150 a
week. The model raises pay for some positions
and lowers it for others, ASUO Accounting Co
ordinator Jennifer Creighton-Neiwert said.
PFC member Michael Sherman said the
stipend could no longer be based on hours
worked, although he wasn’t sure what rule the
hours-worked criteria violated.
The changes also establish the minimum
amount of money groups must spend on pro
gramming to receive paid positions. Groups that
spend $3,000 to $5,999 can receive a maximum
of one director, $6,000 to $9,999 a maximum of
two, $10,000 to $19,999 a maximum of three
and $20,000 and above a maximum of four,
with the PFC’s discretion on certain budgets.
PFC, page 4
Celebrating a new year...
Seven-year-old
Gavin Haworth-Liu
takes a moment
alone at the
Ayyam-i-Ha
celebration at the
Chase Village
clubhouse
Saturday
afternoon.
Lauren Wimer | Senior photographer
A relatively young faith, Baha'i promotes family and cleanliness
of mind and body, and keeps a calendar of 19 months with 19 days
BY AMANDA BOLSINGER
NEWS REPORTER
Members of the Baha’i faith began a four
day celebration called Ayyam-i-Ha, which
marks the beginning of the last month of the
Baha’i year, a month of fasting. Almost
162 years old, the faith is the youngest of the
world’s independent religions. It has a calen
dar of 19 months each with 19 days, and the
new year will begin on March 21.
The days of Ayyam-i-Ha, Feb. 26 through
March 1, are called intercalary days in Eng
lish because they are the days left over on
the Baha’i calendar — the system only
... in March
accounts for 361 days.
As a time of festivities, music, dancing,
gift-giving and charity, Eugene Baha’i follow
ers threw a large party on Feb. 26 to celebrate
the beginning of Ayyam-i-Ha. More than
60 people attended the party, which was
open to the public.
Ayyam-i-Ha is a family-oriented holiday with
a focus on children, said Stephanie Ray, a gradu
ate student at the University.
BAHA'I, page 3
Students at high risk for eating disorders
Two University programs help students deal with social pressures
and body image, both of which can contribute to eating disorders
BY KARA HANSEN
NEWS REPORTER
The National Eating Disorders Association
launched National Eating Disorders Aware
ness Week on Sunday, aiming to expand pub
lic understanding of eating disorders and the
issues that cause them.
As many as 10 million women and one
million men are “fighting a life and death
battle with an eating disorder such as
anorexia or bulimia,” and 25 million more
people struggle from binge eating disorder,
according to the NEDA.
In college, about 10 percent of women suf
fer from a “clinical or near clinical” eating
disorder, according to the National Institute
of Mental Health.
Men represent one in five cases of anorexia
and about one in ten cases of bulimia, accord
ing to Anorexia Nervosa and Related Eating Dis
orders Inc. The percentage of men suffering
DISORDERS, page 8
Programs Finance
Committee
Disputed
journal's
budget
approved
BYAYISHAYAHYA
NEWS EDITOR
After months of drawn-out debate, impas
sioned reactions and grievances, the ASUO’s
Programs Finance Committee approved the
Oregon Commentator’s mission statement
and budget in a speedy and uneventful hear
ing Monday. The conservative journal of opin
ion will receive $16,376 in the upcoming year,
a 5.63 percent budget increase.
The hearing was a continuation of the
Commentator’s first PFC meeting Feb. 1, a
highly contentious affair that resulted in the
journal’s mission statement being rejected for
a second time. While more than 110 people at
tended the first fractious hearing, this hearing
generated little attention.
PFC Member Jared Axelrod moved to ap
prove the mission statement saying the Com
mentator has had the same mission for
many years.
“I think it falls in line with the University of
Oregon’s standards,” he said.
PFC Member Mike Sherman agreed.
“It does comply with all the rules of the
ASUO and the University,” he said.
Sherman later moved to approve the jour
nal’s budget, which passed with a 3-0-1 vote,
saying the group had demonstrated it was fis
cally responsible.
Oregon Commentator Editor in Chief Tyler
Graf said the hearing went as expected.
“I knew this one was going to be much
more professional,” he said. “There were no
surprises here. ”
Controversy has dogged the Commentator’s
budget allocation since December when PFC
members voted to reject the journal’s mission
statement after former ASUO senator Toby
Hill-Meyer, who is transgender, claimed the
statements made in the magazine made Hill
Meyer feel unsafe. The journal’s critics assert
that it promotes hate speech.
Graf has said the magazine does not “com
mit hate speech” and statements made about
Hill-Meyer in the magazine were satirical.
PFC members rejected the mission again at
the Feb. 1 meeting. In a tense standoff, some
ASUO members stressed the need to stay
viewpoint-neutral and not consider the Com
mentator’s content when allocating funds,
while others insisted the Commentator did
not contribute to students’ cultural and physi
cal development. Stuck in a stalemate, the
committee adjourned the meeting without
making any funding decisions.
The Feb. 1 hearing spawned diverse reac
tions. PFC Vice Chair Mason Quiroz, who had
spearheaded the campaign to reject the mission
statement, verbally resigned at the meeting, but
later recanted his resignation. However, the
Commentator filed official grievances against
Quiroz, PFC Member Eden Cortez and former
PFC Member Dan Kieffer, stating that based on
comments made at the meeting, the three were
biased against the journal and could not make
viewpoint-neutral decisions. As a result, the
ASUO Constitutional Court announced injunc
tions against Quiroz and Cortez, temporarily
barring them from voting at any PFC hearings.
Kieffer resigned.
Neither Quiroz nor Hill-Meyer attended
Monday’s hearing.
ayishayahya@dailyemerald.com