The Undergraduate Council of Students will consider a resolution to raise the student activities fee by $54 at tonight's meeting, following Thursday's emergency meeting to debate the proposal.
Included in student tuition, the fee, currently $136 per student per year, constitutes the entire budget that the Undergraduate Finance Board distributes to student groups. A worsening budget crisis pushed UFB into a $70,000 deficit last year and forced student groups to accept further funding cuts this year.
Increasing the fee would fund the proposed club sports council, currently awaiting approval, and relieve the burden of additional fees students must pay in order to participate in some activities and groups. Those additional fees are not covered by financial aid, which UCS Student Activities Committee chair Cash McCracken '08 said puts those in need of financial assistance at a disadvantage.
"(The budget shortfall) has created an environment where there is not equal opportunity," said McCracken, who serves on UFB as well as UCS and is sponsoring the resolution.
Even if UCS passes the resolution, the fee increase still must be presented to the University Resources Committee for further approval before finally being passed by the Corporation.
Despite widespread UCS support for an increase, the $54 figure and rushed proceedings have fueled dissent among some members. Internal concerns center on whether the short time span has prevented full transparency of a process that could result in a tuition rise for all students.
"We all agree student groups are egregiously underfunded and that there is a budget crisis," said Zac Townsend '08, UCS Admission and Student Services Committee chair and a Herald columnist. "My concerns are process-based."
UCS members were called to a rare emergency meeting Thursday to discuss a resolution that had not been finalized and had little supporting data.
After speculation about the $54 figure on Thursday, McCracken and UFB Chair Swathi Bojedla '07 put together exhibits to clear up members' confusion and demonstrate how the number was derived.
Using records from the Student Activities Office, McCracken and Bojedla determined that the fee was increased by an average 4.72 percent between 1989, when the fee was introduced, and 1994, when regular increases stopped. The fee was raised once more in 1999 to support the creation of the Special Events Committee. McCracken and Bojedla projected the 2006-2007 student activities fee would have been nearly $190 had the fee increased by 4 percent each year.
"What we're proposing is what people would be paying now" if the initial fee increases had continued after 1994, McCracken said.
Although tonight's debate could clear up some of the confusion over the proposal, determining the best method of calculating an appropriate fee increase is largely subjective.
"It appears that they arrived at the number ... and then came up with the justification for it," Townsend said.
McCracken said Jon Margolick '07, a UCS representative on both the Student Activities Committee and UFB, suggested $54 in preliminary meetings because it would push the total fee to $190, which seemed like an appropriate number. Subsequent calculations to determine a reasonable amount led to the same number purely by coincidence, McCracken said.
However, other members said the increase was too large and that the funding dilemma might be solved more equitably if the fee were increased in stages.
"If we are going to increase it, we should take a look at it every few years and slowly increase it so one class doesn't have to take the full burden of the amount," said UCS President Brian Bidadi '06. "I feel like $54 is asking a great deal of next year's students."
A moderate increase that would cover UFB's deficit and provide additional funding should be sufficient, said UCS representative Ben Creo '07. Creo will present an amendment for a smaller increase at tonight's meeting and said that requesting such a large fee could damage UCS's ability to argue against other student fees and rising tuition costs proposed by the administration.
"It doesn't make sense to risk UCS's reputation and the reputation we can use to do other great things for students," Creo said.
But McCracken said Dean for Campus Life and Student Services David Greene had expressed exceptionally strong support for a fee increase and that this year was the year to "do it right" because the administration's enthusiastic backing might not be repeated.
"An incremental increase would really be a disservice to those students who are here now and who won't see (a gradual increase) come to full fruition," McCracken said.
McCracken said UCS members had urged an increase last year, but internal confusion caused them to miss the proposal deadline. Still, McCracken said he regretted that this year's proceedings have been so rushed.
"We've done our best to stick to our procedure and make this as open as possible, but we've just been presented with deadlines by the administration, and so it's come together very rapidly," Bidadi said.
UCS members themselves received the final resolution late Tuesday night, less than 24 hours before today's meeting. Such short notice fueled some members' concerns that the entire process had prevented a full review of the resolution and hindered transparency.
"There has been little opportunity for student oversight or feedback, and that is unfortunate," said UCS Appointments Chair Benjamin Boas '06.5.
But UCS concern that the fee resolution be made public and the remaining process handled appropriately was soon clear. Shortly after members received the final proposal themselves, the entire student body was sent an e-mail announcing the agenda for Wednesday's meeting with a link to the resolution's text on the UCS Web site.
