Finance Committee Chairman Tony Larson said that on average, the funding for religious groups was cut by about two-thirds and campus publication funding was decreased by up to 50 percent.
Larson said cuts to student group budgets were made on a case-by-case basis and that Congress cut funding for each group's low-priority activities, like travel and lodging fees.
"We can't afford to fund all groups fully, and our decision took into account the fact that we try not to value one group over any other," Larson said. Where student publications are concerned, Larson said that Congress does not want to be in a position to decide which publications are more worthy of funding.
Student Congress Speaker Mark Townsend said all organizations whose funds were cut are urged to allocate money responsibly between fall 2002 and spring 2003. Each group can request additional funding from Congress in spring 2003. While subsequent appropriations might be made in the spring, leaders of several campus publications said they are worried about their financial status for the fall 2002 semester.
Steve Russell, editor of the Carolina Review, said that while he thinks the cuts were fair in the sense that they were not ideological, he thought leaders of each publication should have had more input in the process. "I think (Congress members) needed to debate the issue more and that they took too much of a technical look into the decision," he said.
Russell said that now he is worried about having enough money to keep his publication up to its previous standard. "Our goal is to have six issues per year, and now, unless we have a large influx of private donations, this primary goal of the paper will not be filled."
Incoming Boiling Point Editor Rachael Young said she is concerned about maintaining quality and is angered by what she views as the flippant attitude of the Finance Committee. "In what was a completely dismissive remark, the Finance Committee suggested to do a car wash to raise funds," she said. "I'm pretty sure a car wash wouldn't help us raise $1,500."
But Matthew Calabria, editor of the Chapel Hill Political Review, said the cuts were done fairly. "(Congress members) said they were committed to not being in debt and took out nonessential programs," he said. "If they had to cut funding, they did it in good places."
Larson said that in accordance with Student Code Title V, Congress is also unable to allocate any student funds to spiritual exercises performed by any religious group on campus.
