SFC denies zine center money

The planned zine resource center will not receive funding next year after the Student Fee Committee ruled that the center does not have enough student involvement, leaving future developments for the print media creation lab on hold.

The SFC allocated zero dollars to the zine resource center during the SFC’s initial budget deliberations earlier this month, after they agreed that there was not enough student involvement in the project, according to group members. Their reason was that the PSU student publications adviser Judson Randall, not a group of students, submitted the proposal for the center.

Judson Randall, who sits on the Publications Board and is the adviser for Portland State’s Student Publications, including the Vanguard, was informed of the zero funding through a e-mail from Kit Seulean on Jan. 13, the SFC liaison for all student publications. Seulean wrote that in the future, students could create a new budget and re-submit it for SFC approval.

Randall said he is currently unable to make an appeal for final deliberations–like other student groups are able to do in the budgeting process–because he was not able to attend the SFC’s annual budget school orientation for student groups.

Former Student Publications SFC liaison, Jake Mecum, did not inform Randall of the budget school meeting until the day before. Randall said he was not able to attend on the short notice.

“Their rule is that if you don’t go to budget school, you don’t get the opportunity to appeal,” Randall said.

Although Randall said he asked Vanguard Editor-in-Chief David Holley to go in his place, Holley could not secure sign-up for a budget hearings time because the meeting ended early. The groups that did not get a spot on the budget-hearing schedule were told to schedule an appointment with their liaison, Holley said.

Randall asked Holley to go to budget school and sign in for student publications, the Vanguard and the zine resource center. Holley said he forgot to put the zine resource center on an attendance sign-in list being passed around the room.

“They passed around a single notepad for everybody to sign up on, so if that’s the one thing restricting this budget from going through, it’s a rather inane and asinine qualification,” said Holley, who also admitted his error.

Randall said when he submitted the center’s proposed budget this month, he also told the SFC about several other meetings about creating a center held in Spring 2005.

However, Randall said, he forgot to include a March 2005 memo from former Vanguard Editor-in-Chief Christian Gaston, in support of the center. Gaston and about 10 other students were involved, he said, and this year the Publications Board was acting as their voice.

“The Pub Board’s mission is to enhance student voice,” Randall said. “It has no interest in doing anything else.”

Randall said the center did not receive funding this year because the SFC does not understand that the Publications Board’s purpose is to act on behalf of students.

SFC Chair Amanda Newberg said the proposal was denied because Randall presented it instead of a student.

“The SFC felt that this should be a student-driven effort, instead of proposed entirely by a professional staff member,” Newberg said in an e-mail.

Randall said he will approach the SFC again next year, submit Gaston’s memo and give a more detailed explanation of how integral students were in creating the center proposal.