When the UC Board of Regents met in May to debate then-tentative
student fee increases, they were also met by protesting students
from six UC campuses.
On Wednesday, when the regents convene in San Francisco to
discuss an all-but-certain fee increase of up to 25 percent, they
will be greeted (met) by a different sound: the sound of
silence.
With summer jobs in full gear and students otherwise occupied,
it is unlikely that organizers will be able to gather enough
support for another regents protest.
Instead, UC students will rely on a handful of student lobbyists
at the regents meeting to ensure their opinions are heard.
In addition to Student Regent Matt Murray and Student
Regent-designate Jodi Anderson, who sit at the table with the
regents, the UC Students Association will have four
“white-liners” ““ lobbyists who will solicit the
regents at the meeting with student concerns and attempt to
represent the voices of the over 197,000 students who attend the
UC.
They hope to be particularly vocal on the issue of proposed
student fees, which have escalated dramatically over the past week
as the state budget impasse pushes the UC deeper into financial
crisis.
The regents were supposed to vote on a fee increase in May but
postponed their decision pending further information on the state
budget. At the time, the regents were considering raising fees by
$795 per year.
However, on July 2 UC President Richard Atkinson announced that
in light of potential steeper state budget cuts to the UC, fees
might have to be raised an additional 25 percent to $960.
Beyond that, Atkinson suggested the UC president be given the
authority to raise fees an additional 5 percent if state budget
cuts mandate such an increase, which would raise fees by
$1,150.
All told, resident undergraduates could pay $4,794 a year in
base fees to attend a UC campus. The regents are to vote on both
proposals this Wednesday.
Atkinson also advised that the regents consider scaling back
enrollment growth by 5,000 students for 2004-2005, a move that is
still tentative.
Hanan Eisenman, a spokesman for the UC Office of the President,
said the fee increase is one of the only options left open to the
UC, which has already taken $360 million in base budget cuts and
could face anywhere from an additional $80 million to $400 million
more for 2003-2004.
Though Eisenman said a 30-percent hike is by no means
guaranteed, he added it would be “prudent” for students
and parents to plan for such an increase.
But Murray said such a fee hike would be
“unacceptable,” and he intends to oppose any sort of
fee increase on the grounds that the budget crisis is a state
legislature problem, not a student one.
“(The legislature hasn’t) settled on a budget
““ they’re overdue on proposals,” he said.
“I plan on making the point that this potential increase in
student fees is something the legislature is doing, and to me
that’s a very public policy (-oriented) decision, putting the
burden on people who can least afford it.”
If fee increases seem inevitable, Murray said he would then try
to make students aware of the decision as soon as possible and make
them aware of financial aid opportunities to help pay for the
increase.
Matt Kaczmarek, external vice president for UCLA’s
Undergraduate Students Association Council and one of the
white-liners for the meeting, said he will work to convince the
regents to oppose the state legislature on budget cuts, with
intentions of cutting off fee increases at the source.
Kaczmarek also said a top priority for the white-liners would be
to oppose Atkinson’s proposed 5-percent presidential
discretionary power.
“By accepting that, the regents are accepting further cuts
to the UC, and that’s not good,” he said.
Many student representatives deplored the fact that the fee vote
is being held over summer ““ when students are not
consolidated on campuses ““ and that it is being held at UC
San Francisco, a campus out of reach for many students and one with
no undergraduate population.
Armando Cerzantes, vice chair of the University of California
Students Association and another white-liner, said by not
soliciting student input the regents are not acting properly as the
UC governing body.
“I don’t want to point fingers and say all of them
are against the students, but, regardless, it does seem to happen
that way,” he said. “I hate to say it, but it seems
they’re very shady and unprofessional about it when they say,
“˜We care about the students,’ and yet you don’t
hear the students.”
April Labbe, director of student affairs and student fees at
UCSA, said delaying the fee vote to summer made sense in light of
the uncertainty surrounding the state budget in May. However, she
added that the budget situation under which the regents are voting
now is not necessarily any better.