Proposal calls for impeachment of SFC Chair Newberg

The student senate may discuss a petition, created by Judicial Board member Chris Geier, today that calls for the impeachment of Student Fee Committee Chair Amanda Newberg.

The petition asks the Constitutional and Judicial Review Board to review three charges contained in the document and decide whether to file articles of impeachment.

According to the document, the senate has concerns about the way the Student Fee Committee under Newberg’s leadership zero-funded the student group Drama Productions. Additionally, the document said the SFC did not give the senate adequate time to review the student fee budget for approval.

The e-mail also brought up a disagreement between the senate and the SFC about whether student fees should subsidize $900,000 of the cost of TriMet FlexPasses to lower the overall price. The senate passed a resolution that said the fee should subsidize the cost of the FlexPasses, but the SFC did not include the $900,000 sum in the budget.

Geier sent an e-mail to the PSU Debate Team requesting the team’s assistance with drafting an official document. Vanguard writer, and Debate Team member, Carly Nairn received the e-mail and forwarded it to other Vanguard staffers last week. Nairn said the Debate Team met as a group and decided not to assist Geier in any official capacity.

The SFC oversees the allocation of $12 million in student fees to the various student groups and student organizations on campus including the Vanguard and athletics. After the allocation process, the student senate, then the PSU president and finally the Oregon University System must approve the budget the committee creates.

Newberg said many of the problems she has witnessed have been due to what she sees as faulty leadership within the senate. She said she thinks the senate leadership did not fully understand the importance of the budget. The vice president of the Associated Students of Portland State University, currently Brad Vehafric, acts as the chair of the student senate.

“I think there is some legitimacy to the complaint,” said Vehafric.

Newberg refuted the notion that the SFC took too long preparing the new budget, saying that she repeatedly tried to present the senate with information but was prevented from doing so because the senate canceled several meetings in a row.

Newberg said instead of focusing their time on critically looking at the entire budget, the senate fixated on the issue of Drama Productions zero-funding. A student group can be zero-funded, which means that they lose access to student fees for the following year, for any number of reasons.

Newberg said the group lost its student fee funding because students do not oversee the money they receive. She said the group directs the funds it receives to the theatre arts department, and then faculty decide how the money is used.

Newberg said zero-funding should be looked at closely, but added that she feels the senate missed the big picture and the rest of the groups in the budget were not looked at properly.

“I am confident that everything that I have done is in line with the constitution and the SFC guidelines,” Newberg said.

Vehafric said that he believes Geier made the proposal to impeach Newberg because he wants the budgetary process to be reevaluated. Vehafric said he thinks Geier believes there are flaws in the relationship between the senate and the SFC.

Geier told the Vanguard in an e-mailed Monday that he would not be able to answer questions until later today. He did not respond to questions through e-mail.

“I think there is a lot of student groups that have had problems with SFC this year,” Vehafric said.

One of the main concerns, Vehafric said, was the time available for the senate to review the budget created by the SFC. Vehafric said there was “no time to review it thoroughly.”

The student senate meeting is today at 5 p.m. in room 296 of Smith Memorial Student Union.