ASCSU approves student fees
Associated Students of CSU approved the recommended 2004-2005
student fee package on emergency status Wednesday night.
In the package student fees for the 2004-2005 academic year will
rise $6.91 per student. The recommended increase will be reviewed
by the Board of Governors of the CSU System, the CSU Executive
Budget Council and Linda Kuk, vice president for Student
Affairs.
These increases have been reviewed and endorsed by the Student
Fee Review Board.
“SFRB worked extremely hard listening to budget presentations
from all the fee areas,” said Ashly Nickel, a senator for the
graduate school. “They really put a lot of effort into these
decisions.”
Several fee-funded organizations on campus have asked for an
increase in their funding. Among these are Campus Recreation,
Conflict Resolution and Student Conduct Services, Hartshorn Health
Services, the Lory Student Center and The School of the Arts
Advisory Council.
The Rocky Mountain Raptor Program took a decrease in student
fees, and had agreed to a three-year phase out plan. SFRB believed
that the Raptor Program was not effectively using allocated student
fee dollars and did not have enough potential for direct student
involvement, Nickel said.
“SFRB came to the conclusion that our fees probably were not
being spent as positively as we would have liked them to have
been,” she said. “They’re doing some things to gain funding support
from the city.”
Much debate centered around the addition of a $5 student fee for
those enrolled in summer classes to help fund the summer theatre
program. This program recently received a $17,000 cut to its
budget.
“In order for this program to remain functioning and performing,
we need to create this fee,” Nickel said.
Britta Schroeder, a senator from the College of Natural
Sciences, disagreed.
“I completely oppose the $5 increase,” Schroeder said. “I just
don’t think they’re sticking to the rules. I think this is very,
very wrong.”
Schroeder was concerned that programs with similar needs had not
gotten the funding they needed to stay alive in the past.
“I don’t think ASCSU is being fair,” Schroeder said. “I think
they toss around our fees like whatever.”
Summer theatre participants came to voice their support for the
program.
“I really feel, and so do the rest of us in the Department of
Music, Theatre and Dance, that this would really benefit the
students very much,” said Caroline Bryan, a senior art student and
participant in the summer theatre program. “We get a lot of
community support. They’d like to see it continue and so would
we.”
Marisa Adelman, a senator for the College of Natural Sciences,
thought the fact that they made a presence at the senate meeting
was enough to warrant them consideration.
“That type of involvement in this program really speaks to the
success of this program,” Adelman said. “I think that they have
been successful and proven themselves very well and we should
continue to support them.”
Some members of ASCSU agreed.
“Liberal arts is the biggest college on campus, yet probably
receives the least money per student,” said Maria Bennet, a senator
for the College of Liberal Arts. “This student fee money would be
an appropriate use.”
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