Spring Break
Montclarion Budget Unfrozen for One Month
Temporary Agreement Allows for Limited Printing, The Montclarion Says Issue Remains Unresolved
Shayna Jacobs
Issue date: 1/31/08 Section: News
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Budget activity of the 80-year-old weekly The Montclarion was only partly reactivated - publishing and office supply purchases have resumed, for at least the next 30 days.
The legislature asked The Montclarion what budget items were essential to produce a newspaper for the next few weeks. They voted to open those two lines, citing that the objective was to get a newspaper to its students as quickly as possible.
The standing of The Montclarion under the Student Government Association is pending a Feb. 29 deadline to mediate for what SGA legislator and bill author Bryan Fucetola called a "win-win" solution to a problem that caught the attention of press and supporters across the country.
If the negotiations do not result in a compromise, it could mean another budget suspension for The Montclarion. SGA President Ron Chicken, after co-signing the freeze letter with treasurer Melissa Revesz, said that the only way for The Montclarion to have the freeze reversed would be for the newspaper to turn over the correspondence with its former attorney, Sal M. Anderton.
Both Anderton and The Montclarion maintain that the attorney-client relationship existed between only them, and both have steadfastly refused Chicken's requests for documents detailing the meetings and conversations that took place.
Chicken knew that Anderton was advising The Montclarion as it tried to establish that the SGA was a public body and should conduct business in accordance with the state Open Public Meetings Act (10:4-6).
He attempted to fire Anderton the day after a public explanation as to why closed session is illegal by Editor-in-Chief Karl de Vries.
Representatives from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the New Jersey Press Association's (NJPA) legal team spoke in defense of The Montclarion, assuring the SGA that The Montclarion was the sole client in the attorney-client relationship with former Montclarion attorney Sal M. Anderton, despite the SGA's assertion that, as the purse-string holders and overseeing body, they were the client, and are now entitled to the private correspondence that took place.
Viewing Comments 1 - 10 of 10
Douglas E. Hall
posted 1/31/08 @ 12:42 PM EST
Keep up the good fight. Your SGA sound like heavy-handed Stalinists.
jen
posted 1/31/08 @ 1:52 PM EST
why not go independent of SGA? set up a business office, get some sponsors, then enjoy press freedom.
David
posted 1/31/08 @ 4:14 PM EST
Amen to that, jen. Free and independent press is always the right way to go, for these very reasons.
Alumni
posted 1/31/08 @ 5:23 PM EST
If they do become independent I hope they then fight the closed-door meeting policy of their SGA.
Don't back down or even compromise Montclarion. Your SGA won't win this. (Continued…)
Brian
posted 1/31/08 @ 7:01 PM EST
The suggestion by de Vries that the legislature didn't have the backbone to stand up to its executive board -- awesome quote, first off, but I think it goes even beyond that. (Continued…)
Tom Traubert
Tom Traubert
posted 1/31/08 @ 9:29 PM EST
Off the pigs. Chicken is a tyrant. He ran unopposed and now his lame Ted Haggard loving self can't handle the criticism. He isn't American. He is a Nazi. (Continued…)
John
posted 2/02/08 @ 3:35 AM EST
I'm sure this move will look great on Ron Chicken's resume.
Nevermind.
Steve Peoples
posted 2/02/08 @ 11:00 PM EST
Your student government association should be embarrassed. The country is watching.
Crazy
posted 2/03/08 @ 4:32 PM EST
damn the man save the empire. fight the powers that be
Alumni
posted 2/28/09 @ 7:04 PM EST
I do recall after speaking to several sga legislators and officers on this day, that e-board members were forcing several legislators into agreeing with signing on to the bill/supporting it through incorrect manners. (Continued…)
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