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Impact radio tax predicament now resolved

December 6, 2012

Both MSU’s undergraduate student government ASMSU and the Council of Graduate Students, or COGS, officially have approved Impact 89FM receiving student tax money once certain conditions are met.

Following suit with COGS’ decision Wednesday night, the ASMSU General Assembly voted unanimously to “retroactively” authorize or ratify the student tax MSU students approved by ballot in the spring, granting the station its already-collected student tax, given the conditions of both groups are met.

The decision comes after the student governance’s review of Impact 89FM’s financial records. The review, as well as the freezing of the station’s $3 taxes on each student, was a result of concern amongst student governance members about Impact 89FM’s financial records and the MSU Radio Board not meeting for several years.

The State News recently received information suggesting issues surrounding the station might also be due to MSU administrators ignoring university regulations for student tax renewal.

The bill approved by ASMSU was a slightly modified version of the one approved by its policy committee last week.

ASMSU requires that prior to Impact 89FM receiving their student tax money, the station must undergo a full external audit and provide a budget for the remainder of the current fiscal year.

The bill also stated that unless the Radio Board first reviews and approves the audit and budget, the station will not receive any of the already-collected student tax money and no new tax money will be collected.

A stipulation added at the meeting mirrored COGS conditions, requiring the Radio Board to review and reaffirm their charter.
COGS has similar stipulations, requiring a full financial audit for fiscal years 2010, 2011 and 2012, and more frequent financial reporting, among others.

Although the bill passed unanimously, concern was raised in discussion of whether university administrators would follow regulations and make sure the conditions were met, as well as if the Radio Board would meet.

ASMSU President Evan Martinak said he feels attention from the press and the student governance groups will encourage university officials to adhere to procedure.

Impact 89FM general manager Ed Glazer previously told The State News that Interim Vice President for Student Affairs and Services Denise Maybank is not approving any use of the rest of the stations funds, though clearly enough is being approved for the station to run.

Maybank said in an email in that no accounts have been frozen, and confirmed Impact 89FM has not received student taxes because of student governance concerns.

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