Red and Blue loses SAC spot a second time

The Red and Blue, the controversial student newspaper, last month lost its Student Activities Council recognition for the second time in as many years for failure to attend the organization's monthly meetings. And the Red and Blue owes SAC nearly $2000, two top SAC officials said last night. The Red and Blue, the campus' conservative publication, lost its recognition December 3, one year after winning a highly-charged bid for readmission into the student funding organization. The newspaper, which 1989 SAC representatives said attacked the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual Alliance, was denied re-recognition three times before regaining acceptance into SAC in December 1990. Last month, the Red and Blue was again removed from the list of over 150 recognized student organizations because it missed at least two of the four mandatory SAC meetings last semester, SAC Chairperson David Wessels said last night. SAC rules mandate that groups desiring University recognition can only miss one of the eight meetings held during the academic year. SAC-recognized organizations must also register with the Office of Student Activites at the beginning of each academic year. A Red and Blue editor said last night that one of the two meetings the newspaper representative missed last semester was a meeting specifically held for SAC groups with funding. The editor, who asked for anonymity, said that because the newspaper has not received money from the University for over two years, it should not have been required to attend the meeting. The newspaper has not applied for SAC funding for the past two years. SAC Finance Committee Chairperson Howard Radzeley said last night that the newspaper also owes $1998 to SAC and that it has not made an effort to repay the loan for nearly two years. "The debt first arose in 1986-87 and a small portion was paid off in 1987-88," Radzeley said. SAC has charged the Red and Blue 20 percent interest because it failed to repay its loan within two years. The newspaper's SAC account is currently frozen, Radzeley said. The Red and Blue editor said last night that he was unaware the group's recognition had been pulled by SAC. The editor said that the paper would not apply for re-recognition and that the end of SAC recognition will be "no great loss" to the conservative publication, which now receives all of its funding from private donors. According to the editor, the Red and Blue took out a loan for about $2000 in 1984 or 1985 to finance the publication of a summer issue for incoming freshman. The loan, however, was never fully repaid by the editorial board overseeing the paper in 1985 and the Red and Blue was penalized. But the editor said that SAC was not diligent enough in asking past Red and Blue editorial boards to repay the debt. The editor said that the Red and Blue does not have the $2000 it owes and that the current members should not be required to repay the debt. The outstanding debt would have been an issue when the Red and Blue was re-admitted to SAC last year, but Radzeley said the political issues surrounding the re-recognition fight dwarfed questions about the financial stability of the newspaper. Radzeley said the newspaper's representatives and SAC officials reached an agreement last year that the Red and Blue would repay its debt. At one point last year the paper had an account surplus of over $400, but Radzeley said the group did not use the money towards repayment of the loan and has made few attempts to correct the problem since 1989. "If they come for recognition again, the [outstanding debt] issue will come up," Radzeley said. The Red and Blue editor said that the organization currently receives no funding from the University and that the staff is negotiating a deal with a University alumnus which will give them the necessary money to continue publishing.

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