Protest group faces fund cuts

A Student Congress funding request by UNC’s chapter of Students for a Democratic Society to bring three speakers to campus has fueled protest that the funding would be an unwise use of student fees.

Student Congress will vote tonight on whether it will approve $2,095 in student fees for the speakers, all of whom are current or former members of the UNC-Asheville chapter of SDS.

UNC-Chapel Hill’s chapter of SDS — a progressive student group that has had a strong protesting presence on campus — originally sought $6,095 for the speakers at last week’s meeting of Congress’ finance committee. The committee evaluates funding requests before they come before the full Congress.

The SDS funding request says the three speakers — Sarah Buchner, Angela Denio and Jeremy Miller — led a human rights delegation to Colombia in August and would speak about their trip.

Neither the proposed speakers nor UNC-CH SDS representatives returned requests for comment.

According to the funding request, the group requested a $2,000 honorarium for each speaker. Combined with travel and flier costs, the request totaled $6,095.

Congress grants funding requests depending on the amount of money requested, as well as the funds the legislative body has at that time, said Student Congress Speaker Joe Levin-Manning. The body also weighs the value of the event for the entire campus and how many students will be affected.

Ten concerned students attended the finance committee meeting to protest the request, saying the speakers were not worthy of so much student money.

“We don’t believe, by any stretch of the imagination, that these speakers are qualified to receive honorariums,” said Zack De La Rosa, one of the protesters.

The finance committee voted to reduce the proposed appropriation, saying the initial proposal seemed excessive, and chairman Zach Dexter said he believed the likely audience would not be large enough to justify $2,000 per speaker.

SDS estimated in the funding request that 70 to 100 students would attend the event, which will be held at 7 p.m. Monday in Murphy 116.

The finance committee will report the funding request favorably to Student Congress, meaning a majority of committee members supported the proposed legislation.

Congress usually adopts the recommendations of the finance committee regarding funding requests for speakers, Dexter said.

“Generally speaking, Student Congress tends to err on the side of the finance committee recommendation,” he said.

But Dexter said he will make a motion at tonight’s session to reduce the amount of funding even further.

Dexter said in an e-mail that the speakers’ political viewpoints were not considered in the finance committee, and cannot be considered as a factor in funding groups.

De La Rosa said the people protesting the funding of the SDS speakers have no political motivations for their objections.

“This was not set up for any political reasons, other than what we believe to be sanity,” De La Rosa said.



Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.