2003 Holocaust Remembrance Week in Jeopardy After Congress Cuts Funding

Limited Congress budget allocations during the weekend brought many student organizations under pressure to limit and even eliminate events for next year.

N.C. Hillel in particular encountered strain as it found out that Student Congress completely cut its spring speaker budget for next year, placing its 2003 Holocaust Remembrance Week in jeopardy, said Adina Dubin, president of N.C. Hillel.

Although Hillel members received none of their requested funds for the 2003 spring semester, they were allotted their full request of $450 for next fall's budget. But Dubin said N.C. Hillel would have needed an additional $450 to secure funding for speakers during the spring 2003 event.

"Cutting fees to zero for the spring semester means that Student Congress negated the fees (for the event)," Dubin said. "That's why I would argue that it seems to me that by cutting the money they effectively cut Holocaust Remembrance Week."

Holocaust Remembrance Week is an annual event sponsored by Hillel during which Holocaust victims are commemorated. The week is marked by a series of speakers and events, one of which is reading a list of Holocaust victims' names in the Pit.

But Congress' cuts will not affect this year's event, scheduled for April 8-12, because funding was secured last year.

Congress members deny they aimed specifically to eliminate Holocaust Remembrance Week for religious reasons, saying they made generic cuts to all student groups due to budget restraints.

Under Title V of the Student Code, Congress is prohibited from paying for certain types of expenditures, said Finance Committee Chairman Tony Larson. The expenditures include funding for all social, political and religious or spiritual exercises, Larson said.

But Larson said Hillel received half of the speaker funding its members requested for next year not because of religious reasons but because Congress members thought the allocation was sufficient. "I don't believe that Hillel understands what cuts are being made. They received one-half of what they asked for."

If more money is needed to fund their programs, members of the organizations are welcome to apply for more money next year, Larson said.

But Dubin said attaining subsequent appropriations is not easy -- it requires a great deal of paperwork that can take several weeks. "We have to know what we have a lot further in advance," she said.

Regardless of the blow Hillel members say was dealt to their budget, members say they will work to raise enough money for next year's week.

"We are not going to let this event die," Dubin said. "I really am upset and wonder what quality programs, like the Holocaust Remembrance Week, have had (funds) cut and what the educational loss of the University is as a result of cutting funds for such programs."

The University Editor can be reached at udesk@unc.edu.