A nonprofit that encourages civic engagement and voting among college students says it will lose about $50,000 in student fees next year. This information was reported for the first time by the Daily Montanan.
The Montana Public Interest Research Group, better known as MontPIRG, has operated on state college campuses for nearly four decades. University of Montana students recently voted to renew a fee to fund the organization, but Daily Montanan reporter Keila Szpaller told MTPR the Board of Regents has not approved the fee this year.
“And, there’s a bit of a saying around that,” Szpaller said. “The commissioner’s office said UM never asked for the fee to go on the Board of Regents agenda, but MontPIRG says that’s because the commissioner’s office pressured UM not to send it “.
Szpaller reports that Higher Education Commissioner Clayton Christian has urged limits around student fee funding of political organizations.
Szpaller says neither the Board of Regents nor the commissioner’s office responded to the allegation that politics played a role in blocking the fee. The potential budget cut could hamper the organization’s efforts to get out the youth vote in the run-up to next year’s election, when all statewide positions are on the ballot.
