Students voted not to increase funding for the campus television network, BTV65, in the Student Union elections held Wednesday. The referendum, which was voted on after a public relations campaign by the network, was approved by 30 percent of voters, less than half of the two-thirds majority required to pass. The amendment would have more than doubled the current budget allocated for BTV while reducing Secured Allocated Funding for WBRS, the Justice, Student Events and the Archon.

Waltham Group and BEMCo would also have experienced small budget cuts.

"Obviously, it is a clear disappointment, but we're very appreciative of the students who did vote in favor of BTV," club president Julia Gordon '07 said. "Unfortunately, we won't be able to do the things that we had hoped to be able to do such as the movie channel and really better quality [programming]."

BTV campaigned thoroughly for the amendment, posting fliers around campus and distributing pamphlets advertising their cause.

The Archon, the University's yearbook, disputed the factual content of a BTV flyer, which claimed that yearbooks would still be free to seniors despite the proposed cuts to the club's budget.

The issue was brought before the Union Judiciary late last Tuesday night where the court ruled, in an opinion written by Justice Sam Dewey '06, that while the amendment should remain on the election ballot, the results from the referendum should not be released until after the case had been heard.

In a statement released to campus media Sunday night, the Archon executive board objected to the way that BTV had approached other media groups regarding the amendment.

The statement asserted that the Archon was contacted by BTV only 24 hours before the amendment was submitted to the Student Union and that "open communication [between Archon and BTV] was only initiated after tension between groups had developed."

The statement suggested a meeting between all secured media groups to "end some current anxieties and begin a more productive and a more unified Media Coalition."

Justice Editor in Chief David Fudman '07 agreed that the vote should not affect inter media relations.

"I don't think that we should let any sort of bad feelings between campus media organizations and BTV do any harm to the way that media operates at Brandeis," he said.

BEMCo and Waltham Group maintained their official stance of neutrality on the amendment in an interview with the Justice.

Former BTV president and amendment campaign leader Nate Westheimer '05 said that the station would "have to sit down... with the new Student Union Government and really assess the best way to deal with the funding shortage.