It takes hard work to party
NEWS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 ARTS & culture............ 6 OPINION........................ 10 ETC................................ 13 SPORTS........................ .. 14
DJ Leviathan represents PSU at Red Bull’s Thre3style U arts & culture page 8
PSUVANGUARD.COM
FREE The Vanguard is published every Tuesday and Thursday
Published since 1946
Portland State University Thursday, March 14, 2013 | vol. 67 no. 46
ASPSU senate do-over meeting largely a repeat performance Senate passes revised SFC budget, amends judicial board’s bylaws
Sean Green, an SFC member, facilitates the discussion of the committee’s updated budget for student leaders. The new budget passed by an overwhelming majority despite objections from ASPSU Vice President Marlon Holmes.
Andrew Lawrence Vanguard Staff
The budget for Portland State’s student groups came down to the wire Wednesday night as the student government senate voted to pass an updated budget to fund groups and programs next fiscal year, just five days before it was due to the university president for approval. The same updated budget, which kept compensation for some student leaders from dropping more than it initially outlined, originally passed at last week’s now-invalid senate meeting after objections from some senators who are facing steep pay decreases. The meeting was invalidated after the judicial board ruled that the meeting did not comply with Oregon’s Public Meeting Law guidelines for public notification. “Overall, I think it went about as well as it could have,” said KPSU Station Manager Jay Turk. “Obviously there’s a budget shortfall.” Although Turk said KPSU and the other publications didn’t get what they wanted—that is, to maintain the current funding level—they did avoid devastating cuts. “[Next year’s] budget is more than $70,000 below our current levels, but $70,000 above what was initially given to us,” Turk said. “It counts as a victory, although it’s a compromise.”
Riza liu/VANGUARD STAFf
Thanks to declining enrollment, the total collected by the $216 a student taking 12 credit hours pays each quarter to support student organizations is projected to decrease 1.7 percent. This drops the total to $13.86 million next fiscal year, which runs from July to the end of May. This decrease, along with the creation of new student fee-funded programs such as the Veterans’ Resource Center and a commitment to keep the fee flat, did not allow for growth—or even for flat funding in most areas. “The system the SFC proposed more or less proposes large decreases to everyone,” said Student Fee Committee (SFC) Chair Nick Rowe. Turk, along with other leaders in student publications, including Erick Bengel, the Vanguard editor-in-
chief, attended many senate and SFC meetings over the last month to voice their concerns, eventually suggesting changes to the budget. Although some senators criticized the updated budget for decreases in compensation for the lowest tier, which includes the most student leaders, SFC Vice Chair Katie Slayden disagreed. “I think it’s fair for publications to bring a publications-only proposal,” Slayden said. “We haven’t actually seen any other proposals, so to criticize them for a lack of proposals from other groups is incredibly unfair.” Under the leadership award model that will govern the pay of most student leaders next year, a tier system determines compensation based on responsibility and expected hourly commitment. Using the system to
calculate the worth of vastly different positions, such as student government and publications, is one reason ASPSU Vice President Marlon Holmes said he opposed the budget. “Tier systems don’t work because the people at the bottom get crapped on,” Holmes said, adding that if the student fee was returned to last year’s levels of $220 per 12-credit-hour student per quarter, which would raise close to $275,000, the debate would probably not be happening. “If we had that $4 [per student] back, the tier system would look a lot different.” After passing the revised budget, the second half of the meeting was largely devoted to delineating where the powers of the senate and judicial board begin and end. At last week’s now-invalid meeting the senate voted to amend the
judicial board’s bylaws, an action the judicial board later ruled was prohibited based on their interpretation of the ASPSU constitution, said ASPSU President Tiffany Dollar. The amendment in question dealt with whether candidates for student office should be required to attend a mandatory orientation meeting to be eligible to run for office, something Dollar said benefits the elections process through team building and letting candidates get to know the rules. “It helps you treat your opponents like real people,” Dollar said. Judicial Board Chief Justice Aubrey Hoffman disagreed with the need for the orientation, saying that requiring them will make it difficult to complete voting by the first week of May, as constitutionally-required, while also not achieving the results hoped for by the senate. “Did you see [team building] last year?” she said of the elections cycle. “It’s a pie-inthe-sky goal.” The senate ultimately introduced a resolution that overturned the judicial review board’s previous ruling on the senate’s vote regarding the bylaws, and subsequently voted to change them again, requiring mandatory orientation for students seeking office. “It seems like the senate is substituting their judgment for the judgment of two people who’ve actually run an election,” Hoffman said. When asked to describe the meeting in a sentence or two, she answered, “Disappointing.”
SFC meetings stand Faculty contract negotiations begin with bagpipes in the park Judicial board finds fault with group’s public notice procedures but doesn’t invalidate meetings Andrew Lawrence Vanguard Staff
A potential budget disaster was averted Tuesday night as the Associated Student of Portland State University’s judicial board decided not to invalidate meetings of the student fee committee, even though it found that the SFC had not complied with the public notice requirements of Oregon’s Public Meetings Law. An invalidation ruling could have wiped out all of the committee’s work on the budget over the past school year. The threat of invalidation, which hinged on whether the SFC gave acceptable notice to the public and other interested parties of their meetings, agendas and minutes, came after last
week’s ASPSU senate meeting was invalidated on similar grounds. “Invalidating either the last 60 days or last year of work seemed to be a bit harsh in light of the circumstances,” said judicial board Chief Justice Aubrey Hoffman. The board clarified what steps need to be taken to comply with the ASPSU constitution and OPML. “There’s no excuse for not following the guidelines,” Hoffman said. The board’s concerns came down to whether the SFC complied with OPML to give public notice that was, in the words of the law, “reasonably calculated to give actual notice to interested persons.” “That is my responsibility as chair,” said SFC Chair Nick Rowe. “If it turns out that you think that the SFC hasn’t been giving proper notice I think that that should be more of a reflection, not on the SFC’s general processes, but on my conduct as an officer.” See SFC on page 5
AAUP marches across campus, hand delivers concerns to Wiewel Coby Hutzler Vanguard Staff
corinna scott/VANGUARD STAFf
AAUp members march through campus with poster-sized letters outlining contract concerns on Tuesday. The letters were hand-delivered to PSU President Wim Wiewel and Carol Mack, vice provost for Academic Personnel and Leadership Development.
The Park Blocks were peaceful on Tuesday, until the bagpipes started playing. So began a high-visibility march through campus to hand-deliver two oversized letters to Portland State administration; one went to PSU President Wim Wiewel, the other to Carol Mack, vice provost for Academic Personnel and Leadership Development. “Our main goal is to call attention to the fact that we are opening See AAUP on page 2