Judgment day has arrived for three major student publications on campus.

The Government of the Student Body Finance Committee has adjusted 1997-98 funding for the Iowa State Daily, ethos Magazine and The Drummer. Still, all are expected to lose money.

At tonight’s GSB Senate meeting, senators will vote to approve, or send back for recommendation, the committee’s suggestions.

Ethos Magazine was returned to the Finance Committee for a decrease last week. Ethos lost $6,000 the second time around. The committee voted over the weekend to recommend allocating ethos $36,000, down from about $42,000.

Matt Seifert, editor in chief of ethos, said he’s not happy. Seifert said the decrease isn’t good news for ethos. “The outlook is pretty grim,” he said.

The decrease makes up 15 percent of ethos’ total budget, including advertising revenues, Seifert said. He said the publication will have to cut down on the color used in the magazine or cut back on the number of copies printed.

Sen. Rory Flaherty, off campus, made the motion to send ethos back for a decrease at last week’s Senate meeting, saying the university doesn’t need the magazine.

Rodney Morris, a Finance Committee member, said the committee cut from ethos because members didn’t want ethos to be funded by GSB at such a high level. He said with the reallocation amount, ethos can use some of the $10,000 it earns from advertising and still make a profit.

Seifert said trying to change the Finance Committee’s decision is a lost cause. However, he said he, staff members and supporters will be present at tonight’s meeting to protest.

“We’re going to try to get the amount changed, but I’m not optimistic,” Seifert said.

Meanwhile, The Drummer could lose about $1,000 if the committee’s $9,750 recommendation is approved tonight. Last year, The Drummer was allocated $10,600. The Finance Committee’s original recommendation for The Drummer was $7,500. Drummer officials had requested $13,000.

Mark Ingles, adviser for The Drummer, said it could have been worse.

But Ingles said he doesn’t see any reason why GSB needed to cut The Drummer’s funding. “This is one way conservative personalities in student government can whittle away at groups they don’t care for,” he said.

Morris said The Drummer came back to the committee with a new budget, prompting the re-evaluation.

GSB funding for the Iowa State Daily is also expected to drop. Two weeks ago, the committee voted to cut about $14,000 from the Daily’s $89,000 allocation last year.

John Hobson, chairman of the Daily’s Publication Board and a GSB Finance Committee member, said he doesn’t yet know what the cut means for the Daily, but he said it will have an impact.

Hobson said he doesn’t think senators realize how even a 1 percent decrease can harm a student publication. “You can explain it to them, but they don’t really hear,” he said.

“I know GSB is strained for cash, but I don’t approve with the way they handled the situation by cutting funds from publications without warning,” Hobson said. “It’s frustrating to us, and it’s frustrating for all the publications.”