???Back to the drawing board.
???Sunday afternoon, leadership from The Spectrum and the Student Association (SA) met with the hope of both sides moving closer to an agreement concerning approximately $37,000 from the Mandatory Student Activity Fee that is usually put aside for the publication.
???SA Director of Communications, University Council member and former Spectrum Editor in Chief Robert Pape mediated the meeting.
???Heading into the meeting, newspaper and student government representatives said they were hoping to reach terms over what has, in the past, been a subscription fee transferred through SA to The Spectrum. SA has previously transferred $1 per undergraduate student per semester to The Spectrum.
???When both parties left the table, no solution was reached.
???"It went as I expected it would," said SA President Peter Grollitsch. "Unfortunately, not too much got accomplished."
???In previous talks, Grollitsch and SA Treasurer and Spectrum Board of Directors (BoD) Treasurer John Martin agreed to sign a contract concerning the funds in question only if SA would receive half of the seat representation on the newspaper's BoD, changing the seat ratio from four Spectrum representatives and three SA representatives to four for both parties.
???"We said we'll compromise in any way other than that," said Stephanie Sciandra, Editor in Chief of The Spectrum and Chair of The Spectrum's BoD, in reference to addition of an SA seat on the BoD.
???In the meeting, Pape expressed the possibility of other options for SA to possibly pursue, taking into consideration that The Spectrum will not allow 50 percent of the board to be controlled by the student government.
???"Right now, SA's main concern is that the undergraduate students represented on the BoD do not have the power to stop something if they feel it's an unethical or an unjust expense," Pape said. "What I proposed was finding a way for the treasurer, usually a SA representative, to have a way to question the expense without being overruled by the board. Whether that's some sort of review process, I don't know, because it hasn't been formalized."
???According to The Spectrum's Bylaws, the treasurer of the board is never a representative of the paper and is always a SA representative.
???Martin, opposing Pape's informal proposal, looked at businesses across the country, as an example to why he feels that half representation of the BOD is his only choice.
???"I explained that businesses across this country have a system of giving oversight to business activities," Martin said. "If there was a better way of doing it, we'd see examples of it in the business world. Unfortunately, there isn't. We're looking for more oversight on the business practices of The Spectrum because the students, giving this much money to The Spectrum, should have a right to oversee how it's spent. The only way I see that is through the Board of Directors."
???Sciandra, on the other hand, fears the editorial independence of the paper could suffer if the compromise is made.
???"While the Board of Directors is only supposed to control the financial aspects of The Spectrum, if [SA] didn't like how something was printed, they could vote as a block in order to impact the editorial content. There would be checks on the paper's end, but not on [SA's] side," Sciandra said.
???Grollitsch believes that, while The Spectrum is an independent company, SA is funding the organization, thus clouding the paper's independence.
???"The Spectrum feels it's independent, but John [Martin] and myself feel that The Spectrum isn't as independent if we're giving money and they are not sustaining themselves," Grollitsch said.
???Senior Managing Editor of The Spectrum, Sergeant at Arms of The Spectrum's Editorial Board and BoD member Chris Ryndak believes that SA is not sustaining the publication in any way.
???"Certainly the money we get through SA helps, but by no means does it sustain us," Ryndak said. "If we don't get this money, it won't be the end of The Spectrum. It'll hurt, but we'll be fine."
???Sciandra said that previous legislation concerning Spectrum-SA issues has proven that the student government is wrong in their understanding of what the $37,000 is and represents.
???"Unfortunately for them, courts and the Student-Wide Judiciary have ruled that it's not SA funding us, but its money transferred from the students through SA to us," she said. "...I'm confused why they're going to drag this to court if they're worried about the students' financial situation when it's been proven over and over again that it's not SA funding the newspaper."
???As the situation develops, Pape hopes that a solution can be found as quickly as possible in order to stop further problems from coming to fruition.
???"I think the fastest and more effectively we can get this done, the better," Pape said. "The current and future undergraduate bodies benefit more if we can come to a solution without the help from outsiders. It'd be a true testament to student leaders if we could come to a solution and as a student leader I'd like to help any way I can."
???While all leaders involved hope for a solution that will benefit all parties involved, Martin feels that the meeting was actually a negative experience for the parties.
???"I feel we're at the same point or further away [of coming to a solution]," he said.
???With dark clouds looming over the situation, the leaders of each organization hope that the future is bright for all parties involved. Nonetheless, Grollitsch believes both parties will soon be hearing the sound of a gavel.
???"Unfortunately, I think that's the reality of the situation right now," he said. "That's where we stand right now. Both [SA] and The Spectrum would like to resolve it in-house, but there's fundamental differences we both disagree on."
???Sciandra also believes that, despite efforts made by both parties, SA and The Spectrum may fail to find the middle ground through informal proceedings.
???"We're willing to take this as far as [SA] wants to go. Newspapers are a special animal though, they're not just like any business, and the sooner SA realizes that, the sooner we can begin to move forward," Sciandra said. "They're trying to compromise our ability to report accurately and without outside influence."
???Both parties previously agreed to outside mediation through Erie County.
???Look for additional coverage of the situation in upcoming issues of The Spectrum.
