Media fund may be indexed to consumer price index

One of the referendum questions that will be on the ballot will be about changing the media fund’s collection and redistribution.
Currently, the media fund is $0.15 per credit. The referendum question asks to change the media fund to an “ongoing media fund of $0.13 per credit indexed annually to the CPI index for the City of Montreal.” That means the fund will vary according to the rate of increase of the cost of living.
However, a lower media fund fee does not mean that the clubs that receive money from this fund will get less of it. On the contrary, the new fund would collect more money, said Sabrina Stea, former president of the CSU.
In previous years, students from the faculties of fine arts, arts and science and independent students paid for the fund. If the new fund is voted, students from all the faculties will pay. “That’s why we are able to reduce it [the media fund],” said Stea.
The second major innovation concerns the redistribution of money. Usually, money was equally divided between CUTV, CJLO and the Amateur Radio Club (ARC), regardless of their real needs. According to Stea, the new fund would be more democratic. Each club will have to present potential projects and the money will be allocated depending on how much each project requires. Stea added it could create a stimulating competition between CUTV, CJLO and the ARC.
Marcelo Coelho, CUTV executive producer, agreed with this idea. “The good thing about the new fund is that it can allow the most active of the media clubs to have a bigger share of the money.” Nevertheless, he added that “active” is a subjective concept and that the redistribution of the money has to be done carefully . “CUTV believes that a committee has to be created to decide how the fund will be shared.”
The new media fund would also benefit non-academic clubs.
Another advantage of the new fund would be its stability, said Stea. It would not need adjustments because of its indexing to the CPI.
The current fund will expire in Winter 2003. However, if students approve of the change, the new media fund would be effective in January 2002.

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