Correction: The original version of this article contained an error. Charle Le’s name was misspelled.
The On Campus Housing Council is proposing an increase in the Student Activities Fee paid by residents on the Hill.
As part of their housing costs, residents pay a student activities fee every year to fund the various activities on the Hill.
Representatives from each building will vote on Feb. 14 on a proposal to increase this fee from $27 to as much as $54, said Charle Le, president of the council and second-year history student ““ potentially a 100 percent increase.
The fee can also be increased to either $36 or $45, depending on the council’s vote.
Programs funded by the student activities fee range from localized floor events to movie nights and specialized events, such as hypnotist shows, that are available to all residents.
Putting on such events has become more expensive over the years ““ inflation causes prices to rise, Le said. The amount of money available to the On Campus Housing Council and the Office of Residential Life to host these events has not changed in at least five years.
“Right now, our strategy for planning events is to do the cheapest thing possible,” Le said. “With more money, we could expand on our programs and make them more available to everyone.”
For instance, a trip to see the musical “Wicked” is available to residents on the Hill at different times throughout the year. The housing council’s tight budget required them to restrict the trip to residents from Hedrick Hall and Sproul Hall.
Even with those restrictions, the trip’s transportation and ticket prices could only be partially subsidized, Le said.
An increased Student Activities Fee would allow more students to attend programs like the “Wicked” trip and also make it cheaper to attend, he said.
In addition to increasing the fee, the proposal also suggests a new way to distribute the funds more equally among the different buildings. The redistribution is an effort to make the experience of dorm life equal for all residents in both small and large communities.
Funds for smaller buildings are low to begin with because they have so few people. These are the buildings that will be most affected by the funding boost, ORL officials say.
Resident assistants in De Neve Acacia and Birch, one of the least-populated buildings on the Hill, threw a Super Bowl party with food and prizes. Because of limited funds, they had to use an alternative method of funding for the event to even happen, said Kylie Carrigan, internal vice-president for the building and a third-year art and psychology student.
The sparsely populated Saxon Suites also has trouble funding events. One Resident Assistant had a “Pot Party” where residents painted ceramic pots while being taught about the detrimental effects of marijuana.
Miniature ceramic pots had to be used with a limited selection of paint, because there was not enough money to available to buy regular sized supplies, said Jacqueline Perez, internal vice-president of Saxon Suites and a second-year molecular, cell and developmental biology student.
“Just because a resident is in a small community, they should still be able to enjoy programs like everyone else,” Perez said.
Some students say they like the culture of small buildings, however.
“People choose smaller residences because they like the quiet,” said Hitch resident Lian Yan, a first-year business economics student. “I wouldn’t go to the programs even if they were available.”
Joanna Shen, a first-year undeclared student who lives in Saxon Suites, said she thought more money would be helpful. But Saxon is not social enough to need much more, she added.
The proposal also seeks to address the current lack of a standardized funding system for floor activities. Each building makes an independent decision for how to allocate the funds.
Floors in De Neve Acacia and Birch, for example, each have a $75 budget per quarter for activities. De Neve Cedar and Dogwood have slightly higher populations but smaller budgets, with $70 given to each floor.
That could change with the new fee regulations. Under the new system, the housing council would make the decisions about funding allocations, and each floor would automatically receive $2 per resident.
Other proposals establish a fund for licensing fees, stipends for cabinet members and an allowance for events during the first week of school that does not depend on the size of the community.
“We want to make sure that everyone in every community is getting the same experience no matter what building they live in.” said Karen Hedges, assistant director for the Office of Residential Life.
The new system will only work if the fee increase is approved, Le said. If the fee does not rise, then the whole proposal will be rejected.
If the proposal passes through building representatives, there will be a Hill-wide ballot, where every resident gets to vote on the issue, Le said.