At Tuesday’s Student Government Association senate meeting, Senator Kathleen Hunker proposed an amendment to the SGA constitution that would, if passed, allow for competition between “news publications” falling under SGA oversight. The SGA constitution currently prohibits the creation of new clubs whose purpose overlaps with that of an existing club. Hunker’s amendment would maintain this prohibition, except among clubs deemed to be “news publications,” a term she left undefined.

Senator Hunker began her speech in defense of the amendment by highlighting the need to promote “freedom of the press” through journalistic competition. This is a noble goal. But why limit the promotion of press freedoms to publications that report news? If a group wants to form a second feature magazine, shouldn’t they be allowed the right to compete? How about a second humor magazine? Or literary review? If students want to found new publications, let’s open the floodgates! A simple reading of Hunker’s proposal gives the reader a sense that the existing ban on competition is holding back a torrent of pent up student expression, and that lifting the ban for “news publications” would spur an explosive tabloid war.

This simply isn’t true. In fact, by Hunker’s own admission, there have been no requests to start a competitor to The Chronicle or any of SGA’s six other active publications. So why fight for competition now?

The real threat to press freedom at Hofstra University is the SGA’s effective censorship of student publications through underfunding. Each year, the individual publications are thrown into the appropriations circus along with every other club on campus.

The SGA has continually failed to recognize the unique fiscal needs of campus publications. Unlike a traditional club, which can face budget cuts from SGA and still operate effectively, a publication can’t exist unless it has enough money to print. Period.

In the 2006 budgeting process, the Appropriations Committee, under the guidance of then-Chairwoman Hunker, reduced funding for the University’s sole news publication, The Chronicle, by more than half. Of the $42,500 required simply to print The Chronicle over the course of the academic year, SGA allocated only $8,000 – less than one fifth of the total cost.

And it’s not just The Chronicle that’s being short changed. In the 2005 budget process, the yearbook Nexus was left unable to fulfill the contract with its printer due to a lack of funds. That publication avoided the same problem in 2006 only through some serious political wrangling.

All of this while Hunker’s Appropriations Committee approved $15,000 for the College Republicans and $4,000 for Right to Life, a front organization whose top leadership mirrors that of the Republicans. In both organizations, Senator Hunker is a highly active member of the leadership.

Student publications are the voice of the Hofstra campus. Why should a news publication be forced to shift its focus from journalistic excellence to an unreasonable level of fundraising simply to stay afloat, while other organizations with ties to SGA leadership are funded in full or nearly so? I agree with Senator Hunker; SGA should do everything in its power to promote freedom of the press. But before clearing the way for competition between mythical publications of the future, the SGA should begin properly funding the ones we already have.

Jesse Webster is a senior TV/Video major, art director of Pulse magazine, and design consultant for The Chronicle.