The Oregon Student Public Interest Research Group brought their appeal before the Associated Students of Southern Oregon University Senate last Tuesday, where their appeal was denied.

On Wednesday Feb. 27, the Appeals Validation Committee, comprised of ASSOU students, voted unanimously for OSPIRG to present their appeal to the student Senate. The appeal stated that, "the Educational Activities Advisory Committee did not follow procedure when determining [OSPIRG’s] budget."

A statement issued by the executive branch of ASSOU said, "[We] uphold the decision made by the Educational Activities Advisory Committee and the student Senate. Tuesday’s decision was based on procedure and not the overall value of OSPIRG as an organization."

Jerrod Nielsen, media coordinator for OSPIRG, was given five minutes to present the reasoning behind the appeal. OSPIRG said that they were not given proper notice of EAAC meeting times and were therefore unable to send proper representation to the meetings. Nielsen also addressed misconceptions about OSPIRG’s organizational process and ability to reach people. He also came with 50 letters of support for OSPIRG signed by SOU students and faculty.

EAAC chair Austin Parish and co-chair Christina Thuerwachter, who is also a student senator, gave a five minute reply to the appeal.

"We followed the spirit of the law if not the letter," said Parish during Tuesday’s presentation.

EAAC representatives said they gave the most time for discussion of the budget to OSPIRG during the meetings, and that to their knowledge, representatives of OSPIRG were present. They added that they would not change the decision about funding them.

After presentations, the senate had a 45 minute discussion before voting on whether or not to allow OSPIRG’s appeal to pass. A positive vote would have allowed them to go back to the EAAC and present more information. With an ending vote of 4-9 not to pass the appeal, OSPIRG will have to go elsewhere for funding.

OSPIRG’s next step will be to ask for support from the Student Fee Committee.

Heidi Spero, an OSPIRG board member and SOU student coordinator, answered questions at the meeting.

"We will continue to make a case to ASSOU that OSPIRG gives SOU a voice on statewide and national issues that students care about," Spero said in a statement.

Sayla Eisner-Mix, OSPIRG coordinator, is hopeful that they will get funding but realizes there are options for OSPIRG as well.

"If there is no funding, OSPIRG could be a club. It would be an incredibly scaled down version," Eisner-Mix said.

She explained that there would be no coordinator, and the statewide connection would no longer be on campus.