MSA senate passed Bill 57-37 on April 11 to drop five of eight auxiliaries from MSA’s funding. These five are KCOU, MUTV, MSA/GPC Box Office, MSA/GPC Tech and Student Legal Services.
The bill makes changes to the MSA bylaws following [the removal of the Department of Student Activities](https://www.themaneater.com/stories/campus/msa-votes-unanimously-to-remove-large-portion-of-department-of-student-activities-from-next-year’s-budget).
According to the bill, “DSA has moved and … these auxiliaries would operate more effectively outside of MSA and … MSA should shrink its budget to operate more nimbly and externally.”
Before voting in full senate last week, Jake Eovaldi, MSA budget chair and author of the bill, said that he reached out to each of the organizations before pushing the bill.
An original version of the bill did not include MUTV in the list of auxiliaries being moved out of MSA; it was added through an amendment.
Eovaldi was not available for further comment.
MSA/GPC Tech coordinator Sarah Stone believes the event-production group will be reported under Missouri Student Unions. MUTV general manager Aviva Okeson-Haberman and KCOU general manager Riley Evans said MUTV and KCOU hope to be reported under Student Unions as well.
Heath Immel, senior associate director of Student Auxiliary Services, said in an email that Student Unions is in the review process and has no information to share.
Stone said MSA is going to focus on student government, and MSA/GPC Tech will continue to provide its services to student events.
“In the past couple of years, everyone has been looking at their funding models and looking to see what they can do with the budget shortfalls,” Stone said. “There’s been talk of this move for quite a long time, so it isn’t a surprise to us.”
Evans and Okeson-Haberman said MSA is offering them a combined severance package. Okeson-Haberman said the severance should be about $90,000.
“This is a one-time amount,” Okeson-Haberman said. “So, looking toward the future, one of our main goals is going to be making sure we’re more self-sustaining.”
Okeson-Haberman said one plan to raise funds is to hold a summer journalism camp for high school students with the rest of Mizzou Student Media. This idea would also maximize the use of their office spaces, which aren’t used much over the summer.
According to Evans, KCOU plans to work for more sponsorships, particularly in sports, and to rent out their recording studio to organizations on campus.
“We’re all a little worried a little bit,” Evans said. “Everyone is worried when there’s change, but so far, it’s been going pretty well. It’s all been going smooth.”
Representatives from Student Legal Services and MSA/GPC Box Office were unavailable for comment.
_Edited by Caitlyn Rosen | crosen@themaneater.com_
