At the last Graduate Student Organization Senate Meeting the budget committee presented their idea to cut the GradMag’s budget line in its entirety for next academic year. The matter was made open for discussion, followed with several spirited opinions and ended up in a vote.
Budget Committee Chair Chris Young made the motion to have a vote and then presented the voting choices as: (1) cut the GradMag line completely, (2) keep it running at a current cost of $5,700 per academic year or (3) keep it in existence with a less expensive operating budget.
Nineteen senators voted to keep the publication in existence with less of an operating budget and 8 voted to eliminate its existence. No one voted to keep it running at the current cost.
Chris said he and the committee would take this vote into consideration and readdress the issue in a deciding vote at the next senate meeting. The meeting will take place Tuesday, April 5 in the Wang Center, room 201 at 6 p.m.
Many believe the publication has a purpose as the only existing media source dedicated entirely to our graduate student body, which also provides jobs and gives students a chance to earn $50 through freelance writing opportunities. Unfortunately, the budget committee is working under tight fiscal constraints and needs to make tough decisions as to where it can cut back in the budget.
This is where compromise comes in. In government many times an elected official will sponsor a policy they want passed. The voting legislators may not agree with all aspects of the policy, although they do like some of the concepts. After a negotiation process takes place, the policy will usually pass, although not in the exact form it was originally presented.
Fortunately, there are only three lines in the GradMag’s budget line, so it is simple to negotiate where money can be taken from. The three lines are as follows:
Editor-in-Chief -$2,300
Assistant Editor - $1,400
Publication Grant - $2,000
Here are my suggestions for how the budget line could be cut back for the 2009-2010 academic year.
Cut back the publication grant:
The publication does not need $2,000 in grant money to operate. By cutting the grant line to $800 graduate students would still have a way to earn freelance money through the publication and it would cut the operating costs from $5,700 to $4,500.Currently, graduate students who write for the publication without a contract receive $50 per freelance article. Grant money is only used to pay freelancers. The GradMag publishes eight months per academic year, Sept. through Dec. in the fall semester and Feb. through May in the spring semester.
Eliminate the assistant editor position and cut the publication grant to $1,200:
By eliminating the assistant editor position, it would bring the operating budget from $5,700 to $4,300. Combined with the savings from cutting the grant publication to $800, this would bring the total operating costs for the 2009 – 2010 operating budget to $3,100.
The GradMag can exist at a very small operating cost. If you have any ideas for how to keep the publication in existence while finding ways to cut back its expenses, please let them be known at the next senate meeting or e-mail me at editor@sbgso.org.
