THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, April 21, 1996 TAG: 9604210055
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PHILIP WALZER AND GARY KEFFER, STAFF WRITERS
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Long : 117 lines
In an action that makes Newt Gingrich look like an amateur cost-cutter, Old Dominion University's Student Senate has slashed the budgets of some major student organizations.
Proportionately, the student newspaper, Mace and Crown, will be hit the hardest. Its budget will be reduced 96 percent, from $2,500 this year to $100 in 1996-97.
The student yearbook, the Laureate, will be losing the most money: Its allocation will decrease $9,000, or about 30 percent, from $30,300 to $21,300.
Student Senate president Chris Pearson and vice president Jeff Rowley did not return calls last week seeking comment. But they have said they believed that the budgets of large student groups were padded and that some of that money should go to smaller, underfunded organizations.
A statement released by the Senate's finance committee said, ``The reallocation of funds . . . to provide for the budget requests of ODU's smaller organizations will provide to the student body a more diverse range of organizations and activities to enrich the university experience.''
Twenty-six groups, previously unfunded, will get money next year, including the Monarch Dance Team ($3,500), the Indian Students Association ($400), the American Society of Naval Engineers ($400) and the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws ($100).
Yet leaders of some the bigger organizations say the changes are a thinly veiled retaliation for their criticism of Pearson and Rowley over the past few months.
``I think the results kind of speak for themselves,'' said Walter Valencia, general manager of the WODU radio station, whose allocation will drop from $13,200 to $11,500. ``Any normal person who'd see the cut in budget would put two and two together and realize that they were penalized.''
Valencia and the yearbook editor, Kisha Petticolas, recently voiced support for a short-lived impeachment drive against Pearson. The petition organizers said Pearson's grade point average made him ineligible for the job and an accompanying $5,600 scholarship.
Last April, when students elected Pearson, they also approved an amendment raising the minimum average for student government officers from a 2.0 - or C - to a 2.5. Pearson's average then was a 2.06. But he said he was told the amendment wouldn't apply to him. The Student Senate later voted to exempt him.
The Mace reported on the controversy and said in an editorial that Pearson ``should not hold office.'' Also this month, the newspaper reported on complaints about campaign improprieties against Rowley in the recent student body election. Rowley won and will take over as president after ODU's graduation May 4.
The budget presents a thorny dilemma for administrators, who in the name of self-governance have taken a back seat in the debate. Nancy B. Lindgren, director of student activities, said it would be up to Dana D. Burnett, vice president of student services, whether to reallocate money.
Administrators have never before tinkered with a student-organization budget in Lindgren's nine years at ODU, she said.
``I believe that his (Burnett's) philosophy is to abide by the wishes of the students,'' she said, ``but I know that he's a very fair person. If, perhaps, there are some organizations that need to have a second look at the amount that was allocated, I think that he will be the appropriate person to do that.''
Burnett could not be reached Friday.
Lindgren would not offer her opinions on the budget, other than to say she had ``some concerns about the cuts'' to the newspaper. As adviser to the Student Senate, she said she doesn't express her views either: ``I don't agree with all of the allocations, but I don't ever make my opinion known to the (finance) committee.'' But she said she did question whether some allocations were ``fair and consistent.''
Lindgren said she expected a decision in the next 10 days.
Mark Goodman, executive director of the Student Press Law Center in Arlington, says ODU officials have an obligation to intercede ``if they have any belief in or support of press freedom. . . . I hope the administration would step in and say, `This is not an appropriate situation.' ''
Legally, ODU might also be on shaky ground, he said.
Courts across the country have ruled that university administrations or student governments may cut funding for student papers - unless it is in reaction to something they have printed, Goodman said.
``If there's evidence to indicate the motive was displeasure over what the newspaper has published, that would be a violation of the student newspaper staff's First Amendment rights,'' Goodman said. ``. . . If it were shown that, yes, a lot of groups had funding cuts of 20 to 25 percent, but the student newspaper had a funding cut of 90 percent, that could be used as pretty persuasive evidence that they were motivated by the intention to silence the newspaper.''
The Mace was among the 10 groups with the biggest allocations this year. Under the new budget, 97 of the 114 student groups will get more money than the Mace, including the Medical Laboratory Science Students' Association ($150), the Cycling Club ($300) and Ballroom Dancing ($125).
Will Bassett, the photo editor of the Mace, told student senators Monday that more money was needed to publish its first edition of the school year.
Subsequent editions are mostly subsidized by advertising revenue, he said.
Pearson said in February that the Black Student Alliance would get more money. But the organization's allocation will go down, from $4,025 to $3,000.
``I was quite disappointed, quite concerned,'' said Jonathan Beverley, president of the group. ``. . . Amongst all the work that we have done, we have seen the gratitude that has been shown by reducing our budget.'' ILLUSTRATION: WHO'S GETTING LESS MONEY
Mace and Crown student newspaper: from $2,500 to $100
Laureate, student yearbook: from $30,000 to $21,300
WODU radio station: from $13,200 to $11,500
Black Student Alliance: from $4,025 to $3,000
WHO'S GETTING MORE MONEY
26 groups, previously unfunded, will get money,
including the Monarch Dance Team ($3,500), the Indian
Students Association ($400), and the National Organization for
the Reform of Marijuana Laws ($100).
KEYWORDS: ODU STUDENT GOVERNMENT BUDGET by CNB