Arizona Public Interest Research Group started a recruitment drive this week promoting its work and showing its need for funding from the Undergraduate Student Government.
Arizona PIRG is seeking approval from USG to receive $3 per student annually from the $50 student activities fee for Tempe-campus undergraduates.
PIRG chapter chair Jason Donofrio, a cultural anthropology senior, said the fee should be waived, meaning students could opt out of giving their $3 to the group.
Donofrio said PIRG would work with administration to allow students to waive this fee by filling out a form when they pay their tuition.
“We want it to be up to the students if they want us here,” Donofrio said.
PIRG is a student-run group that tries to engage students in the political process and make students’ voices heard on political issues, said PIRG steering-committee member and faculty coordinator Twyla Haggerty, a political science and philosophy sophomore.
Issues the group has worked on in the past include voter registration and Arizona’s adoption of the California Clean Cars’ standard, she said.
PIRG began campaigning with the USG and the Arizona Students’ Association in 2006 to institute the student activities fee, which is student-controlled, Donofrio said.
The allocation was not approved until fall 2008, when the Arizona Board of Regents and the USG senate passed a budget that included more than $200,000 for PIRG, he said.
But partway through that semester, PIRG was told it wouldn’t receive the money because USG was concerned about the legality of the allocation to a lobbying group, Donofrio said.
Because PIRG never received the funding, Haggerty said members have been paying for day-to-day supplies out of pocket.
“We aren’t reimbursed for the minutes we use on our cell phones, and we don’t have an office, so even the most simple supplies we pay for ourselves,” Haggerty said. “I think we’re a great organization that students can really benefit from, so I think we should get funding.”
Political science junior and USG president Brendan O’Kelly said PIRG hasn’t received funding in recent years because USG is already working on many of PIRG’s agenda items.
Most of the $200,000 intended to go to PIRG was mostly re-designated to club appropriations, O’Kelly said.
“Basically the senate doesn’t see a reason to outsource our work, which I agree with,” O’Kelly said. “Their budget also included paying for some salaries that we just can’t afford. I do think there are a lot of things we can work with them on, though.”
O’Kelly said he encouraged PIRG to run a referendum and have students vote to fund PIRG separately.
PIRG will cease to exist at ASU without funding for the spring, Donofrio said.
“Right now we’re running our recruitment campaign and trying to get as many students and student organizations behind us,” he said. “I think the best way for us to get funding will be to show how many people want us on campus.”
Reach the reporter at sheydt@asu.edu.
