ASUN billboards reach out to Reno
One of the 12 billboards advertising homecoming stands off Virginia Street behind Amendment 21 Grill and Sports Bar. Photo by Casey Durkin/Nevada Sagebrush
The Dr. Seuss theme used by the student government for its promotion of upcoming homecoming events will now stare students in the face when they stumble out of Amendment 21 downtown. Or when they’re driving down Victorian Avenue on their way to In-N-Out Burger. Or 10 other places in town.
For the next eight weeks, a dozen billboards around Reno will be marked with the Associated Students of the University of Nevada’s logo, taking steps toward a goal of public outreach set for it nearly a decade ago.
The main push in those efforts came when Whitney Lee, the director of public relations for ASUN, went out on her own to develop a plan for the billboards, an idea that had been tossed around the student government since at least 2000.
When Lee brought her plan for billboards to ASUN Director Sandra Rodriguez, the cost was half of the market price for the ads and almost a quarter what Rodriguez and others assumed the price would be based on previous attempts. The cost came to about $11,300.
“The price was unheard of,” Rodriguez said. “She found it and had a one-week opportunity to give (Clear Channel Outdoor) an answer. We jumped on it.”
To purchase the billboards, Rodriguez used money from the administrative office account, a pool she said is often used for quick, one-time expenses. The billboards also fell under the goal of promoting ASUN set out for her office by University of Nevada, Reno officials.
When the ASUN Senate was told of the move, some senators expressed concern over the use of money from the office account to pay for the billboards. Rodriguez defended the legality of the move, though, and said the opportunity would have been lost if the executive branch had to wait for senate approval.
“(The office account) is kind of a catchall account,” Rodriguez said.
The billboards are marketed by Clear Channel to reach 50 percent of the area’s population during the span of the contract. ASUN’s contract for the billboards lasts for eight weeks. The first three weeks, the advertisements will focus on homecoming and will transition into general ASUN ads for the rest of the contract, Lee said.
“Homecoming is not just a university event, it’s a community event,” ASUN President Eli Reilly said. “This is a gesture from the campus telling people to come.”
The billboards will remain homecoming advertisements until the week after homecoming ends. After that they will convert to ASUN advertisements, which are being designed by Inkblot Promotions.
Find the billboards around town
View ASUN Billboards in a larger map
Jay Balagna can be reached at jbalagna@nevadasagebrush.com.
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11 Responses to “ASUN billboards reach out to Reno”
To be perfectly honest, this is a huge friken waste of money, and the fact it was done without approval should be investigated and punished by whatever means needed. The reno community knows we are here and that campus is open to everyone and the people who see theses ads will not just randomly think let’s go to unr.
Launch an investigation, change loopholes that allowed this to happen, and save our money.
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I’m actually proud of the Nevada Sagebrush because of the accuracy of this article. Although a few of the senators that serve ASUN had mixed emotions about the expeditious manner in which this money was taken out of the office account, the majority of us were in agreement about outreach to the community being a necessity for the Associated Students. The above statement of community knowledge about the University of Nevada is completely false and outreach to our community in order to stimulate academic and athletic involvement, heightened revenues, and overall pride in the Wolf Pack is imperative. There is legislation being drafted at the present to promote communication between the Executive Branch and Legislative Branch to avoid nondisclosure in the future, but Whitney Lee should be commended on the daunting amount of work she put into this project in order to market the University of Nevada. My issue is the Dr. Seuss theme…umm a childrens book theme for the homecoming of our football team? Maybe next year we could choose The Poky Little Puppy since we are the Wolf Pack.
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It seems to me that this article, like many of articles the Sagebrush reports on, is very one sided. The reporter did not seek any comments from the legislative branch or any other branch within ASUN.
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I will agree with Chris, UNR is shamelessly wasteful with its funds.
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STM,
The undergraduate student government is shamelessly wasteful with its funds, not the university.
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This is remarkable. I have worked with and for ASUN for four years and I have never seen this accomplished. It is not wasteful, only practical. Not only will this boost attendance, but it will give us more opportunities with hidden businesses in Reno, NV. Go Pack!
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Chris,
If you think there should be an investigation, start one. File a case with the judicial council.
https://asun.unr.edu/government/Judicial/Default.aspx#Charge
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Wow. Sounds like a divisive issue… Maybe it should have gone though the Senate as opposed to just spending funds comepletely on a whim.
Weird…
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Let’s set aside the question of whether this was a good use of the funds. We could debate that all day and get nowhere.
$11,300 is a lot of money for a single expenditure. Sure, it only amounts to less than 1 percent of ASUN’s total operating budget, but that’s not what matters. The interesting part is where the money came from. The Sagebrush does a disservice to its readers and the members of ASUN (every undergraduate student!) by glossing over this point.
This expenditure is primarily designed to promote ASUN’s homecoming activities. ASUN has a department that is set up to plan ASUN’s homecoming activities. That department has a fee-revenue budget of $30,000, with spending authority maxing out at $35,000. The extra $5,000 comes from revenue the department might generate on its own, but cannot spend until it has raised it first (ASUN FY 10 budget).
$11,300 of $35,000 is about a third of the homecoming department’s budget. That’s quite a large expenditure, considering that $20,000 of the $35,000 is for operating expenditures. The rest is for host expenditures (food). In other words, more than half of the budget is blown on advertising if the money came from the homecoming department’s budget. Well that sucks. You might get a lot of people to the events, but they’ll probably not be as good because money spent on advertising is money that is not spent on fun stuff.
But, alas! Some geniuses had a solution that would allow the homecoming department to have its cake and eat it too! Just write off the homecoming expense on the so-called “catchall” administrative office account. “To purchase the billboards, [ASUN Director Sandy] Rodriguez used money from the administrative office account, a pool she said is often used for quick, one-time expenses,” the article above reports.
The article goes on to discuss whether this move was legal, but lacks any real substance on that point, quickly dismissing it as an issue. Shame, because that’s the real story here. This expenditure stretches ASUN’s laws.
ASUN law clearly states that “[a]ppropirations shall be applied only to the objects for which the appropriations were made.” The law further states that an officer or employee of ASUN “may not make or authorize an expenditure or obligation exceeding an amount available in an appropriation or fund for the expenditure or obligation.” (Check out sections 221 and 224 of ASUN Public Law 75-52, available here.)
Take these two provisions together, and Whitney Lee has a problem. Through shady, perhaps illegal, accounting, the director of homecoming spent more on homecoming than the law allows. The defense of this act seems to be expediency. “Rodriguez defended the legality of the move, though, and said the opportunity would have been lost if the executive branch had to wait for senate approval,” the article states. Tough cookies. Don’t like it, have the Senate write better laws, which is most definitely easier said than done.
Some ASUN senators expressed concerns, but apparently none of them were willing to be, or worthy of being, quoted (do none of them understand the laws?). Besides, it’d be a total drag on the Nevada Sagebrush’s editorial angle for this edition–ASUN reaching out to new audiences–if this minor matter of arguably illegal spending got in the way. That’s all well and good, but you glossed over a real problem, Sagebrush. Why is that?
The press has an important role to play as a check on government; right now, the Sagebrush is giving ASUN a free pass. Grow some balls, Fryman, and take ASUN to task. There’s literally a mountain of stuff to point out. And ASUN senators, don’t even get me started with y’all. Much can be learned from this. I hope that we do.
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Whitney Lee has connections with the “Sigma Nu Gang”, am I correct? There you go.
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Great Job Whitney! This is really awesome and I know it will really get the community involved.
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