Student leaders who have been fiercely opposed to the recent
string of fee hikes at the University of California in the last two
years will soon be changing their tone when it comes to the student
union fee increase that may hit campus next fall.
Following the recommendation of the board of directors of the
Associated Students of UCLA, many student leaders plan to encourage
students to vote for a fee increase to give the enterprise a more
stable financial footing in the coming months. The additional
student fees would be used for the renovation of student union
facilities and eateries and the expansion of a fund that provides
money for student group programming. ASUCLA is a student-majority
business that runs the student store and campus eateries and
oversees student government and Student Media, which includes the
Daily Bruin.
The time to begin writing the referendum is now, said Bob
Williams, the interim director of ASUCLA at the board of
directors’ monthly meeting Friday afternoon.
The language of the referendum ““ which could more than
quadruple the student union fee students currently pay ““ is
slated to be determined within the next two months.
The board had previously recommended that the current fee of
$7.50 per year be raised to $34.50 in fall 2005 and proceed to
increase every subsequent year based on the rate of inflation.
The referendum language will be drafted through input from
representatives from the board of directors, the undergraduate and
graduate student governments, and the communications board, which
oversees Student Media publications.
It is unclear whether the numbers will remain the same as what
the board has recommended, but they will be similar, said Jared
Fox, president of the Graduate Students Association.
The referendum needs to be drafted by mid-February, the deadline
by which GSA must finalize its spring elections ballot. After each
board approves the draft, the referendum will be placed on spring
elections ballots for approvals by graduate and undergraduate
students.
In the recently created entities committee, representatives from
ASUCLA’s board, GSA, the Undergraduate Students Association
Council and the communications board have been discussing details
of the fee increase. Committee members discussed different
possibilities of how the fee increase could be allocated, said
Dorothy Kim, board of directors’ graduate representative.
While each entity has different concerns about how the fee
increase might affect students, most agree that a fee increase is
needed.
“Most people realize that it sucks, but it is a last
resort,” Kim said.
The discussion also centered on how to communicate this need to
the student body, Kim said.
Kim said the committee may consider holding a town hall meeting
and publicizing the increase to further inform students before they
vote.
ASUCLA has recently fallen on hard times with declining textbook
sales, dorm expansion on the Hill that pits dining halls against
campus eateries and a decline in enrollment.
Unlike fee hikes decided by the UC Board of Regents, Fox said
students should realize that the fees would go directly to student
services.
Apart from a $43 emergency fee that was imposed on students in
1997 and expired in 2002, the current fee has remained constant for
decades.
Many also say there are no alternatives to the increase.
The board has “run out of options,” Williams said
during a presentation at a Nov. 9 USAC meeting.
To ensure that all student union entities have input on the
increase, board representatives have been giving a series of
presentations about why the fee is needed.
Another item of discussion is space allocation.
While it is important to have space available for student use,
it is more lucrative to have profit-yielding businesses utilize
that space, said Yousef Tajsar, the board’s undergraduate
representative during the same USAC meeting. But, he added that it
is important to look for alternative uses of space such as in the
dorms.
The fees would also contribute to higher wages for ASUCLA
employees, Williams said.
Some representatives of the Hill expressed concern that on
campus residents may not have as much of an investment in ASUCLA as
other students.
A student union fee increase was opposed by USAC representatives
last year because of concerns of overlapping programming between
the enterprise and student groups.
At Friday’s board of directors’ meeting the board
also discussed Panda’s reopening and had its mid-year vote to
elect a new chair. Kim was voted as the chair for the remainder of
the year.
Meanwhile, Panda’s opening is cause for some concern as it
diverts traffic from other ASUCLA-run eateries like the Cooperage,
Williams said.
Incremental sales in the Coop are worth more than sales in
Panda, he said.