STV-9’s Mike Pogge feels slighted, but Government of the Student Body finance committee members say he has little to worry about.

At Saturday’s GSB finance committee meeting, discussion revolved around lowering funds for the Iowa State student television station, STV-9.

Chris Stockman, a GSB finance committee member, said while STV-9 was given $34,365.98 for the 1996-97 academic year, GSB will vote on a proposal that cuts funding to $23,387 for next year.

While this sounds like a major hit to the average Joe, and to Pogge, finance committee officials said STV-9 can request additional funding from the capital expenses, or special projects fund.

Stockman said it is important for Pogge and others to remember that STV-9 will not necessarily be taking a cut, but rather getting its funds from a different source.

“The money that has been proposed to give them is just for operating expenses,” Stockman said.

Pogge, who is also a GSB senator, said he was at the meeting Saturday and doesn’t like the sound of the proposal.

Pogge said STV-9 is almost exclusively funded by GSB, except for the SCOLA international programs, which are funded by the Office of the Provost.

“We’re working to become more self-supporting, but that’s hard without some help from GSB,” Pogge said.

“We’re going to have to look at our budget and squeeze stuff in based on a plan that we will have to create. We are organizing an advertising group and a P.R. group,” he said.

GSB Finance Director Todd Swanson said nothing is final.

“The situation is, basically, there was some concern about funding STV-9 at a level of $34,365, and some members made the comment that we could fund them at a lower level. I’m not a voting member, so I guess the student body will decide what it wants to do. There was some concern that (over) $30,000 isn’t a good use of student funds,” he said.

The GSB Senate has final approval of all finance committee recommendations for funding campus organizations.

“I don’t know how the senate will vote on this,” Swanson said.

Pogge said Mark Nimmer, off-campus senator and finance committee member, made a motion Saturday to zero fund STV-9 — based on the assumption that it was a pre-professional program.

“But our entire management team has only one journalism major on it,” Pogge said. “We’re just a group of people who enjoy doing what we do.”

Swanson said after about two minutes of discussion, Nimmer withdrew the proposal.

Both Swanson and Stockman said the finance committee has a lot of work to do in distributing money to about 130 various registered campus organizations.

“It’s just more correct to pull it out of the right fund,” Stockman said.

The GSB will vote on the proposal, which has been passed through the finance committee, but finance committee members said there is no way to anticipate what the senate’s reaction will be.