ASUA meeting lingers over Cat's Eye' and budget

Nicholas Valenzuela Arizona Summer Wildcat Matthew Hamada (left ), next spring's "Cat's Eye" director, and Mary Brandenberger, "Cat's Eye" fall director, addresses the Associated Students Senate last night during its meeting in the Memorial Student Union Rincon Room. Representatives of the student-run, locally aired television show presented their case to get officially recognized by ASUA.

Whereas Saundra Taylor, vice president for campus life, spoke for less than a half hour about community relations programs, Associated Students senators grilled three University of Arizona "Cat's Eye" television program representatives for more than an hour as the directors appealed to the Senate for official ASUA recognition.

To demonstrate the quality of the TV show, "Cat's Eye" officials showed an eight-minute clip of the program, which at one point was met with guffaws by senators as players demonstrated how to make a fake identification card.

"For the past several years, we have been part of ASUA but not officially recognized in the (constitutional) bylaws," said Mary Brandenberger, fall director of the show. "Now if this has been some sort of trial period, I hope we've proven ourselves."

But Brandenberger and her associates were interrogated at certain points by Sens. Benjamin Graff and David Snyder. They objected to the fact that not all students could join the program's production staff.

"You have to complete a certain amount of credits and prerequisites," Graff said.

The Senate agreed to allow all students access to entry-level, volunteer positions on the show, but not before Administrative Vice President Ryan Rosensteel disputed Snyder's suggestion that "Cat's Eye" run on local public access channels.

"(Former Senate candidate) Travis Klein puts out a show (on public access)," Rosensteel said. "Do we really want to represent ourselves as that?"

Eight senators agreed to the measure, with Snyder dissenting and Sen. Marisa Hall abstaining.

As the meeting passed the two-hour mark, some senators buried their heads in their hands with exasperated looks on their faces. The squabbling continued when the Senate attempted to pass the year's Associated Students budget of $890,000 - $243,500 of which comes from student fees.

During the discussion, a spat ensued when Senators questioned Rosensteel about $2,200 earmarked for ASUA staffers' raises.

"If you're going to look at where $2,200 is going, why don't you start looking at where the $26,000 in - (ASUA President Tara Taylor's) expenses are going," Rosensteel said.

The Senate finally passed the budget 8-2, with Snyder and Hall dissenting.

In other business, a meeting was scheduled for Monday at 5:30 p.m. in ASUA's offices to discuss the Main Library's new computer printing fees.

For the first time, the library now charges 7 cents per page for black and white Internet printouts.

Executive Vice President Cisco Aguilar has opposed the fee since it was proposed in May, calling it another attempt to "nickel and dime" students.

UA Library Dean Carla Stoffle will discuss the fee with ASUA officials and the Senate.

"My concern is that the fee has been implemented at the library," Taylor said. "We need to move quickly on this - we should have moved yesterday."