Senate Policy Meets to Discuss Publication Council Contract
TJ O'Sullivan | Associate News Editor - SA
Last Updated:2/23/10 Section: Student Assembly
The Senate Policy Committee met on Sunday, February 21st with Vice President Ryan Ruzic to discuss the content of upcoming Publication Council Contract negotiations. The Publication Council serves to "provide guidance and financial supervision for undergraduate and graduate student publications," and draws its funding from the Student Assembly.
The first major area of discussion revolved around lowering the cap on the Consolidated Student Publications Reserve Fund. As it stands now, the cap is set at $100,000. Currently, the account is valued at roughly $83,000 with the Student Assembly favoring lowering the cap to $50, 000 or less. Senator Eric Scalzo (J.D.) suggested a two year "spend-down" period in order to allow for the account to meet the final cap.
The potential inclusion of an "Incentivizing Revenue Generation" proposal drew particular fire from Senators Steven Nelson ('10) and Erik Houser ('10). This potential new section to the contract was designed to encourage campus publications to draw in funding independent of monies granted them by the Publication Council, and thereby student fees, by selling ads. The suggested plan would have it that "if a publication generates revenue, that publication will be given an additional budget equal to 50% of that generated revenue in the next year's appropriation to be used providing new or expanding existed services to the students."
Sens. Nelson and Houser argued that this addition would do little to encourage ad-selling among the campus' smaller publications while it would merely increase the budget of the larger ones. First, they hope to implement a cap on how much publications can earn as incentive, regardless of ads sold. Second, the SA hopes to impose heavy restrictions on how this additional money can be used. Senators worried that publications will spend more than is necessary in order to use the full subsidy.
Other areas of discussion included solidifying "seed funds" that help new publications get started and inserting a content-neutral guarantee which would ensure that "funding… not be decided based upon subject matter." The contract may also include of a mechanism for the Publications Council to institute its own bylaws as long as they are passed with a 2/3rd majority and do not contradict the contract.
While the renegotiation process is still in its earliest stages, Vice President Ruzic outlined his main goals: "I want deserving new publications to receive the money they need to flourish, and I want existing publications to seek out new revenue to lessen the cost on the students."
The first major area of discussion revolved around lowering the cap on the Consolidated Student Publications Reserve Fund. As it stands now, the cap is set at $100,000. Currently, the account is valued at roughly $83,000 with the Student Assembly favoring lowering the cap to $50, 000 or less. Senator Eric Scalzo (J.D.) suggested a two year "spend-down" period in order to allow for the account to meet the final cap.
The potential inclusion of an "Incentivizing Revenue Generation" proposal drew particular fire from Senators Steven Nelson ('10) and Erik Houser ('10). This potential new section to the contract was designed to encourage campus publications to draw in funding independent of monies granted them by the Publication Council, and thereby student fees, by selling ads. The suggested plan would have it that "if a publication generates revenue, that publication will be given an additional budget equal to 50% of that generated revenue in the next year's appropriation to be used providing new or expanding existed services to the students."
Sens. Nelson and Houser argued that this addition would do little to encourage ad-selling among the campus' smaller publications while it would merely increase the budget of the larger ones. First, they hope to implement a cap on how much publications can earn as incentive, regardless of ads sold. Second, the SA hopes to impose heavy restrictions on how this additional money can be used. Senators worried that publications will spend more than is necessary in order to use the full subsidy.
Other areas of discussion included solidifying "seed funds" that help new publications get started and inserting a content-neutral guarantee which would ensure that "funding… not be decided based upon subject matter." The contract may also include of a mechanism for the Publications Council to institute its own bylaws as long as they are passed with a 2/3rd majority and do not contradict the contract.
While the renegotiation process is still in its earliest stages, Vice President Ruzic outlined his main goals: "I want deserving new publications to receive the money they need to flourish, and I want existing publications to seek out new revenue to lessen the cost on the students."
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