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Senate Blows $835,784 In Overrealized Spending Orgy

What’s the second-worst thing about 7 hour long Senate meetings? The bars are closed by the time you get done.

What’s the worst thing about 7 hour long Senate meetings? The fact that Senate is “working” the whole time.

Last night, the Senate spent $835,784 of misappropriated money in about 7 hours. That’s about $120,000 per hour, and about $2,000 per minute. Oh yes, and they were making up the process as they went along.

Quite the accomplishment.

The meeting began on a happy note, when senators learned that the Overrealized Fund had swollen from around $800,000 to $965,503, giving them even more of this “shadow tax” slush fund to throw at their pet projects. After last Sunday’s appropriations committee meeting, in which the allocation process outlined in Senate Bill 23 was officially abandoned/ignored, Senators have felt comfortable with proceeding to spend this ridiculous sum without any official process at all. Somehow they muddled through.

The Procedure

Step 1: Allow all 19 proposals to present their cases for two minutes each (more than enough time to explain a $100,000+ project).

Step 2: Discussion on each of the 19 proposals. (“Like, even though this saves students money, we can’t support it and still be fiscally responsible”)

Step 3: Let the reality sink in that you are about to spend almost a million dollars of misappropriated money, and yet you don’t have any clue how to do it fairly. Frantically discuss how this is going to work. Do we open the agenda? Do we just vote off the proposals we don’t like? Do we open the bidding for kickbacks?

Step 4: Decide to open the agenda, and vote proposals on. Spend hours eliminating a handful of proposals.

Step 5: Vote on funding each proposal. If it fails, try again at a different amount. Move down the list in order of descending costs.

Step 6: Congratulations! You just spent almost a million dollars. Pat yourself on the back, and then collapse on the floor from the exhaustion of participating in 7 hours of drunken-sailor spending, procedural flailing and political patronage.

The Allocations

The EMU Multicultural Wing Expansion- $300,000. In what can only be described as a fairly shocking display, several Senators went on the record as saying that the Multicultural Wing Expansion should receive $800,000, leaving only $135,000 for the remaining million dollars plus worth of proposals. Luckily, the Constitutional Court has limited conflict of interest to only one specific example, because those Senators were all members and co-directors of at least one of the groups who would have gotten new offices/facilities out of the deal. The rest of Senate was appropriately appalled that one proposal would even consider requesting nearly all of the money, and showed its disapproval by funding the proposal to the tune of $300,000, which was over $100,000 more than the next biggest proposal.

Biodiesel Vans- $174,000. This was passed originally for two new biodiesel vans, but was amended at the end of the night to buy the three vans that campus recycling originally requested. It saves (some) money, and the eco-idealists love it, so it never faced much of a challenge.

Rec Center Deficit Solution- $118,705. This proposal was deadlocked, before Vice-President Guzman cast her tie-breaking vote to approve the deficit relief funding. It was immensely important that Senate approve this measure in order to protect an expensive investment of student dollars, and help the Rec Center to overcome its historically inadequate funding levels. However, this re-investment by students needs to be matched by the PARS staff, who throughout this year have not offered a single solution to their problems besides more student dollars. Now that students have stepped up to the plate, PARS needs to live up to its promise to maintain a sustainable budget, or it needs to find new leadership who can.

Miller Theater Expansion- $100,000. Theater kids are so excitable. You should have seen the looks on their adorably nerdy faces when their expansion project funding was approved. Too bad Das Frohn will probably veto it (see future blog post).

EMU Equipment Upgrade- $100,000. No real debate. Just spend the damn money.

Latin American Philosophy Seminar- $20,000. Politically very popular, but sources indicate that it might fall off at one of the two veto points (Axelrod, Frohnmayer).

Club Sports Office Expansion- $10,579. Club Sports is one of the few fee-funded programs that requires dues from its members. They wanted some furniture for their new office, and they got it. Good for them.

Campus Biodiesel Initiative- $12,500. Relatively cheap proposal to bring a biodiesel infrastructure to campus. Saves money, good for the image, a no-brainer (given that not spending the money wasn’t an option.)

I’ll leave it at that. There’s more to say about what happened with the Overrealized Fund this year, but most of it’s just depressing. One can only hope that this interlude was embarrassing enough for someone in the ASUO to take the idea of mitigating overrealized accumulation seriously. It would be incredibly easy to do, it would reduce an unnecessary part of the I-Fee burden, and it would prevent willy-nilly, spend-because-we-can moments such as this.

  1. Miles says:

    The lounge will be back once the construction in the International Resource Office is finished.

  2. Some Student says:

    My feelings on the EMU: This is the STUDENT union, right? Stop taking away all the lounge space and replacing it with offices for the international/multicultural/ethno resource/leadership/information/tolerance center thingy. Sometimes I want to be able to find a quiet place to do something crazy like, say… study? read a book?

    “Oh please, won’t someone think of the academics?”

  3. Miles says:

    The design will look incredibly stupid. But, that’s the MCC for you.

  4. Timothy says:

    Talk about symbolism….

  5. Niedermeyer says:

    The EMU has committed $400,000 from a building fund, and we’ve been told that the project will cost $1.2 mil, so $800,000 would have covered the whole thing. Basically the project will swap the MCC with the computer lab, and will move the student union offices across the hall so that they would be attached to the MCC.

  6. Miles says:

    For just that area, that little hallway? It could. However they’re looking for a whole new wing to be built. Not something that can work.

    All that, however, may become moot if the Administration is able to put it’s foot down.

  7. Meghann says:

    What do you mean by “qualify for renovation?” It seems like with the way construction costs are, 800k won’t be you anything. Especially not an entire renovation.

  8. Miles says:

    Megs: For the master plan to be fully funded, we need 20 million. 800K would qualify for renovation. Of course, the commies (except the Jewish Student Union) along the Multicultural Highway won’t tell people this because they want the money for themselves.

    However, if the rules are as they are, the Multicultural wing may not get any funding, as student funds CANNOT go to construction.

  9. Meghann says:

    How is $800,000 going to build an entire new wing to the EMU?

  10. Blaser says:

    Yeah Natalie, that was some crazy shit. My favorite part of the show was when they talked about how the biggest threats to the church were feminists, homosexuals and intellectuals.

    Next time when they come to the door I’m just going to tell them that my “partner” and I are on our way to a rally at the Women’s Center …

  11. Miles says:

    Seems like the Administration has pretty much given those who oppose the Miller Theatre and the MC Wing expansion all the ammo it needs.

  12. Danimal says:

    I’m not sure I’d want the rule of law coming down in my pocket.

  13. Richard says:

    Frohnmayer won’t veto the $300,000 out of fear he will be labeled a communi…err…, I mean,”racist” by Senator McCarth… err…, I mean, Gulley.

  14. Anthony says:

    While I do not know the specifics of the Multicultural Wing Expansion effort, it sounds similar to the recent International Resource Center Expansion. That being said, the IRC expansion was funded primarily through donations. From what I know and understand, the Multicultural Wing Expansion is being funded primarily through incidental fees. The amount that was approved at last nights senate meeting does not come close to what is needed in order to fund the entire expansion effort. If that is true, did the ASUO Senate authorize funds for something that may never come to fruition?

    Is that pool of money going to sit in the overrealized fund until the EMU Board of Directors or the State of Oregon decide to fork over the necessary $1.2 million to create the garagantuan monstrousity that will become the lower realms of the EMU? If so, I hope President Frohnmayer decides to veto the allocation. The allocation for the Multicultural Wing Expansion definitely violates the GreenTape Notebook’s regulations for the allocation of overrealized funds. The Clark Document states, as Niedermeyer pointed out, that they can only be used for one time, non-reoccuring items. Not only is this approval NOT a one time allocation, the full funding for the expansion is still in limbo.

    It seems to me, as an outsider, that the supporters of this proposal not only want students to foot the bill for some grandiose scheme (as always), it seems that they are lacksadaiscal in their approach. How can the international community raise the necessary $1.3 million for their expansion, and the MCC and folks can’t raise a dime.

    My serious hope is that someone with common sense and “cojones” actually steps to the plate and stops this approval. Given that Axelrod and Co. are supportive of this, it comes down to Frohnmayer. Will he let witch hunters succeed or will the rule of law come down on students side (and in their pockets)?

  15. natalie says:

    Andrea –
    I know this is totally off topic, but I watched that Mormon special on pbs too….what’d you think of their mountain escape with the names of all the deceased they intend to baptize?!?!!

  16. Miles says:

    Time to file the lawsuit to have all proposals stopped.

  17. Blaser says:

    Oh my god … this is actually really creepy. No joke, some Mormons just came to the door 3 minutes ago … I have the pamphlet to prove it, “The Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ”!

    After watching that PBS show I felt kinda sorry for them and blew them off very nicely, wishing them luck in the neighborhood.

    Maybe our friends were right, Tandrea …

  18. Niedermeyer says:

    It’s like we’re psychically linked.

    Let’s run away and become Mormons.

  19. Blaser says:

    Hey Niedermeyer, way to beat me to the reply, even though it was technically at the same time …

  20. Blaser says:

    Betz: many of the Senators looked beyond the fact that it was one of the few projects that would save students money, and instead repeated the same rhetoric they used for the drum line proposal, that “it is the responsibility of the athletic department”, or better yet, “if we don’t pay for it, they will”. You’d think the AD was wiping its ass with extra money by the way this was being discussed. While I know they have a large budget, it is not in the interest of the AD to foot the bill for the implementation of e-tickets just so students can get a bargain, meaning that it will probably not happen at all after this meeting.

    It was a close vote, but McKenzie abstained, and the second motion brought by Athan for a $30,001 appropriation to the line-item failed by one vote.

  21. Niedermeyer says:

    Betz: Yes, electronic ticketing failed. Senator Gulley led the charge against it, claiming that it was incompatible with fiscal responsibility. Ignoring the irony of his posing as someone who cares about saving students money, the E-ticketing would have actually saved money, and created flexibility and accountability in ticket distribution. Gulley seems to think that the Athletic Department would be willing to spend money on the system, so that we can save money. Yet another leap of logic that has me scratching my head.

  22. Niedermeyer says:

    Tim: Yes

  23. Timothy says:

    I never learned to read, Tyler.

    Or to look at pictures.

    Also, I am at work.

  24. Betz says:

    Whatever happened to the online athletic ticket distribution system? Last I heard, this was supposed to be one of the big ticket items that an even wider range of students would benefit from than the MCC (IMHO)

  25. T says:

    Yes. You have Facebook, Tim. Take a gander.

  26. Timothy says:

    This is even more ridiculous than those goddamn solar panels. Rules against capital improvements with student dollars be damned, let’s build a wing on the EMU! That the MCC even exists is laughable, that they think they deserve $800K to build a bigger office just takes enormous shiny brass balls.

    Also, can you guys clarify something for me: Nate Gulley is a white dude, right?

  27. Blaser says:

    My jaw dropped when Oscar, Jen, San, and Nate proposed the $800,000 for the MCC expansion. I think everyone in the room would agree that funding was necessary, but to have groups putting proposals together all year and participating in the meetings just to tell them 6 hours into the marathon that the MCC expansion was the only project worth funding was incredible.

    That’s diversity for you: you take almost $1,000,000 from the student body, sit on it, build up the hopes of students by saying that you are going to have an open system which will allow disbursal of funds to a wide-ranging and diverse body of students, then vote to give it all away to your own personal special interest!

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