Ooh, I'm still raging over the Squelch's funding being cut.

The Squelch makes a massive effort to reach every student on campus-- that's why we print 11,000 copies per issue, distribute for free, and do it rain or shine for two weeks. Not to mention the non-profit comedy shows. Not a penny goes towards perks for membership, helping members of the Squelch find careers, etc. It's all oriented towards students, does not try to convert them to any religion or political view, and so forth. Of course, reaching out to all students is expensive.

In contrast, just about every student group is much more narrowly focused. When their money isn't spent on events that're group-specific, they're narrowly spent on a particular political ideology, ethnicity, major, etc. This leaves aside the pork-barrel projects that the ASUC loves. (Can anyone argue that CalFACTS, with similar funding, is more useful then the Squelch? Or the Greek Philanthropy fund, which doesn't even benefit students? Heck, we're probably more well-known then the entirety of the ASUC's projects...)

The problem with this is that while just about everyone likes and knows the Squelch, its support is spread very widely, making it an easy target for budget cuts. This is a cynical redistribution to groups with little representation but heavy influence on the ASUC.

This leaves aside a finance meeting that was announced a day before it was held, giving the Squelch no time to prepare a defense, talk to Senators, or mount support. Now instead of defending $15K in the budget we have the much more difficult fight for an extra $3K when the budget is already in deficit, thanks to the votes of two Senators and the abstentions of four others...Email This Post!