Over 20 supporters of the New York Public Interest Research Group protested without a sound at Monday’s Student Association meeting, tying white handkerchiefs over their mouths and holding black-and-white placards bearing only the word ‘silenced.’

Though they remained quiet for most of the two-and-a-half hour meeting, except for one ringing cell phone, NYPIRG’s leaders and student volunteers have been anything but silent on the issue they came to protest: the upcoming SA funding referendum for the Syracuse University and State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry NYPIRG chapter.

Polls will open at 11 a.m. Wednesday for the referendum, which will allow students to decide whether NYPIRG should continue to receive direct funding, unregulated by the SA budget process, said Jessie Cordova, chairwoman of SA’s board of elections and membership. Should NYPIRG lose its direct funding and be forced to apply for regular SA funding, the referendum will also give students a chance to decide whether that money should be added to the regular student activity fee.

SU and SUNY ESF students currently pay $3 per student each semester directly to NYPIRG, on top of the regular student activity fee. Students are given the option to exempt themselves from the fee, and NYPIRG must submit to a referendum on its funding every four years.

NYPIRG chapters at other campuses in the state are funded in a similar manner. The process is exactly the same at Buffalo State College, with an annual fee of $6 per student approved by a referendum held every 4 years, said Josh Turner, NYPIRG project coordinator there.

The addition of the second question to this referendum has caused a wave of controversy. SA officials bill it as an attempt to make NYPIRG accountable for the way it spends students’ money.

‘Unlike the budgets every other organization provides that specifically states what every dollar is used for, the Student Association and the majority of students on this campus have no idea where [NYPIRG’s] money is spent,’ said SA Comptroller Maggie Misztal, in an e-mail to student organizations.

Misztal added that the group’s programs account for less than $30,000 of the over $80,000 collected from students each year.

Similar pushes for accountability have been made on other campuses, Turner said. In the end, however, NYPIRG is accountable to students through the work it does to protect students’ interests.

‘In terms of accountability, I think they see their investment returned to them many times over,’ Turner said.

NYPIRG supporters, on the other hand, believe that the referendum is an attempt to deprive the group of its established means of funding.

‘We believe that the process so far has been biased and unfair,’ said Sean Vormwald, project coordinator for the group’s SU and SUNY ESF chapter.

The group lodged an official complaint against this bias and unfairness in a letter sent to SA’s board of elections and membership on Saturday. The letter detailed a number of complaints with the referendum process, including the decision to move the start date from the original goal of Monday to tomorrow, and the failure to provide adequate voting opportunities for SUNY ESF students.

The BEM met these accusations head on, distributing its own letter during Monday’s meeting. The BEM never officially set Monday as the start date for the referendum and was forced to push the date back in order to allow time to compile voter lists, Cordova said. The decision was not an attempt to foil NYPIRG’s attempts to promote the referendum, she added.

SA officials also responded to complaints about the lack of polling places and times for SUNY ESF students by adding an additional polling place. Students will be able to vote Wednesday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. in Marshall Hall and Thursday at the same times in both Marshall Hall and the Schine Student Center.

‘We are glad to see that BEM extended greater voting access to the ESF campus, although we recognize that it is still not equal access,’ Vormwald said.

Published on February 9, 2004 at 12:00 pm