Student Activity Fee Hike to Go to Referendum

The referendum that Congress members voted to place on the ballot would raise the activities fee to $16.50 per semester for all students

The student activities fee is currently $11.50 per semester for undergraduate students and $9.50 per semester for graduate and professional students. The rate was set in 1984.

The referendum will appear on the ballot during a special election that will take place April 2, Student Body President Justin Young announced Tuesday night. The primary purpose of the special election is to fill vacant seats in Congress.

Finance Committee Chairman Tony Larson said Tuesday night that raising the student activities fee would prevent Congress from having to make value judgements about organizations because of financial constraints.

Gregory Wahl, student affairs committee chairman, said students who think their organizations did not receive sufficient funding during last weekend's budget process should vote for the referendum. "There is no reason why students at UNC-CH should not pay $50 in student fees," Wahl said. "There is no reason not to raise the fee $30, $20 or even $10 to make all activities on campus free and open to everyone."

Originally, the referendum would have called for a $6 increase in the student activities fee. But Wahl proposed an amendment making the fees for graduate, professional and undergraduate students $16.50 per semester.

Wahl said he proposed the amendment because he thinks graduate and professional students do not always receive equal opportunities for funding because they pay less in student fees.

Congress also passed a bill requiring groups that receive a set percentage of the student activities fee directly -- like WXYC and Student Television -- to submit an annual report to Congress each March. Congress has the power to set these groups' fees, but the groups are not required to reapply for funding each year, Larson said.

"We need to hear from them so we know what their needs are and whether these fees are appropriate," he said.

Speaker Mark Townsend said Congress appoints representatives to the boards of directors of many of these groups but that the members do not serve as liaisons.

"In the past, no person has ever come back and talked to us," he said. "The purpose of having someone on the board of directors is not as a liaison."

But some officials say they do not think one meeting with Congress is going to accomplish what Congress members are seeking. They say the responsibility should be placed on the congressionally appointed representatives to the groups' boards of directors.

"I don't understand what a five-minute presentation at the end of the year is going to accomplish if you don't have someone there all year," said Student Body Treasurer Kativa Parker.

Wahl said he didn't like the idea that members of constitutionally funded groups might think they were being censored if they were subjected to more strict congressional review.

But Dave Ruddell, chairman of the Ethics Committee, said the review process would not be a matter of censorship or of groups looking for approval.

Larson said Congress is just looking for a general summary of the organizations' activities, and the request is not itemized, so organizations would have discretion in what they present to Congress.

"It's good for Congress to know where the money we're charging is going."

The University Editor can be reached at udesk@unc.edu.