Thursday, April 23, 1998
Student union fee increase would fund
service groups
REFERNDUM: If approved by Carnesale, students will vote on issue
in election
By Dennis Lim
Daily Bruin Contributor
The undergraduate student government (USAC) approved a
referendum to increase student union fees next fall in order to
increase funds for the community service groups. The referendum
will now go to Chancellor Albert Carnesale for approval.
If the chancellor approves the referendum by Tuesday, it will be
voted on by students in the election on May 6.
The referendum would increase ASUCLA membership fees by $1.50
per quarter. Of that $1.50, $1 will go towards the USAC Community
Activities Committee and the other $.50 will go to the Community
Service Mini-fund.
The Community Activities Committee funds base budgets for
student-run community service programs, and the Community Service
Mini-fund provides supplemental funding for student-run community
service programs.
"We have seen a large increase in the number of projects being
presented asking for funding," said Abi Karlin-Resnick, USAC
Community Service Chair.
"Current groups are expanding to accommodate for the new
outreach efforts, creating a stronger need for money. Also, we are
seeing new groups being created," she continued.
Currently, groups applying for funding from the Community
Activities Committee can expect to receive half of what they ask.
If the referendum passes, that amount will increase to about
two-thirds, according to Karlin-Resnick.
Justin Sobodash, president of the Bruin Libertarians, objected
to the increase.
"I am basically against any mandatory student government fees. I
don’t think that any UCLA student should have to pay for something
they don’t agree with," Sobodash said.
Mandatory ASUCLA membership fees, without the referendum fee,
came to $51 per year this year. The total membership fee will roll
back to $7.50 a year in fiscal year 2002 if the referendum does not
pass.
The current budget for the Community Activities Committee totals
$180,000 and $34,000 for the Community Service Mini-Fund.
Each of the 45 groups under the Community Activities Committee
receive about $3,500. However, according to Karlin-Resnick, each
group really needs about $10,000.
Should the referendum pass, the referendum will raise about
$99,000 in fees.
According to Cecilia Leung, Community Activities Committee
chair, the main reason for the fee increases comes from the rising
cost of transportation.
With the loss of the university-run fleet service of vans
(previously available to campus groups for a discounted price), all
of the community service groups have been forced to turn to private
companies for transportation.
"The price of transportation has increased from about $45 a van
last year to about $66 per van this year," Leung said. "That
increase has come from our inability to use the fleet service and
being forced to use companies such as Enterprise."
Transportation constitutes about 60 percent of the total cost
for an average community service event, according to Leung.
Though criticism of the fee increase has been strong, those
involved in community service still defend it.
"If I wasn’t involved in community service I could understand
the frustration with the increase in fees," Leung said.
"However, I’ve seen these groups struggle with funding and how
it indirectly hurts the community. Our goal is to provide the
community with more resources and to do that we need funding," she
continued.