Students appeal to AS for collegian funding

By Dana Parker- McClain

USU room 312 was alive with the voices of more than 60 students, teachers, alumni and professionals during Thursday night’s AS meeting.

Because of an atypical turnout, every seat was filled, and those without a seat lined the back wall and peeked through the door.

The issue at hand?

AS funding of The Collegian.

“ The reason that a little more than about 60 people are here today is because we are concerned about a decision made by the previous senate to cap the funding of The Collegian and continue to reduce it over an eight year period to zero,” Collegian News Editor Adrian Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez said he believes that a 1989 referendum existed that guaranteed every student pay $1.50 per semester in student fees for The Collegian.

Documentation for the 1989 referendum is, at this point, missing.

Michelle Jurkovich, AS vice president of finance, said that if the document was found it could possibly change the situation.

She said that a 1996 referendum that passed didn’t list a specific funding allocation for The Collegian and wasn’t sure if that referendum could supercede the 1989 referendum.

Without documentation of the 1989 referendum, funding for The Collegian will be allocated based on the needs of students, Jurkovich said.

Rodriguez said the senate should put together a committee to look into the issue, as funding cuts will negatively affect both The Collegian and the ethnic supplements that run in the newspaper twice a semester.

The four supplements include Hye Sharzhoom, Asian Pacific Review, La Voz de Atzlan and Uhuru na Umoja.

Maurice Ndole, editor of Uhuru na Umoja, said the supplements provide an important service to readers and to stop funding would stifle the ethnic voice of the campus.

“ The ethnic supplements were formed in the ‘60s to address the racial issues of the time and they now represent the ethnic diversity of our campus,” he said.

Rodriguez also said the current situation puts The Collegian in a tough spot when covering certain campus news.

“ Some of the people here today are concerned that the ASI intentionally removed our freedom to independently and impartially report the news about the campus,” he said.

“ If we can’t have a dissenting view of the student government, then our purpose is eroded.”

Rodriguez said that The Collegian and the AS both exist to serve students and to watch out for their well-being.

Jurkovich said the only purpose of the AS is to serve students by distributing student funds where students want them to go.

The people who passed the 1989 referendum aren’t the people at Fresno State right now and the main focus should be what students currently want, Jurkovich said.

The problem will be finding a way to monitor the wants and needs of students, she said.

Sevag Tateosian, editor of Hye Sharzhoom, said he sees people reading The Collegian every day in his classes.

“ If you put a survey in The Collegian, the only people that are going to see it are the people that read The Collegian,” Jurkovich said. “Nobody responds to surveys in the mail, and there isn’t any voter turnout.”

Jurkovich said the best bet would be for senators to ask the students in their classes what they think about The Collegian so that they may have a better idea of how important the paper and its funding are to the campus.