The University of Maryland’s campus radio station, WMUC, its student Public Interest Research Group, MaryPIRG, and its crisis center hotline were all allocated less money than requested originally, and if the radio station does not receive more of its request, its service is threatened.
The Student Government Association (SGA) was meeting around 5 p.m. PST to hear from appeals from the three groups that had insufficient allocations.
The issue became larger on Twitter as a number of WMUC supporters mentioned the group’s possible cut and the threat of the other groups receiving allocations instead.
An unconfirmed tweet around 5:50 p.m. PST suggests the radio station may have had more money allocated Wednesday night and will be able to survive in some form.
UPDATES:
The Diamondback tweeted the following Thursday morning at 2:21 a.m. EDT: “The SGA meeting is still in session, eight hours later. They are debating the allocation of funds to the student groups who appealed.”
The issue continues into day three. The SGA executive is currently (Friday, April 22) in an emergency meeting to try to support the radio station after more funding was cut. Radio station supporters started another hashtag today: #supportSGAexecs.
Link(s):
- Diamondback (Campus newspaper at University of Maryland) coverage of the background.
- Twitter chatter (#saveWMUC)
Emerald Copy Chief Kenny Ocker contributed to this report.
Quote from the Diamondback article after the jump.