Dean of The College William Green rejected a proposal to raise the student activities fee for next year -a proposal that was created by the Students’ Association government. The proposal was to raise the fee by $25, increasing the amount collected by nearly $100,000.
“The status of student government is a little uneven at best,” Dean of Students Jody Asbury said, referring to the ongoing controversy regarding March’s Senate election. “[Green] is unwilling [to raise the fee] until the future of student government is a little clearer.”
The Student Activities Approprations Committee is currently evaluating budgets for student groups, which have requested about $200,000 more than SAAC can give out, according to SA President Lonny Mallach.
“We’re going to have to make substancal cuts, but we’ll still be funding over $600,000 in student organization events,” Mallach said. “The reason we didn’t get the raise in the activities fee is because the SA government isn’t meeting the bar.”
“This is a lot of money,” Green said. “We need to do this one step at a time. When the government is in trouble, you don’t raise taxes.”
Director of Wilson Commons and Student Activities Anne-Marie Algier is currently working to create next year’s budget for student organizations. “A lot of groups have self-cut,” Algier said. “We’ve tried to be consistent and fair.”
ReactionSAAC Treasurer and sophomore Carolyn Kaminski agrees with the decision. “While there is no doubt that the SA groups would have benefited from more funding, I respect the reasons behind the decision not to increase the fee for next year,”she said.
“Dean Green was right in what he did,” Speaker of the Senate and Take Five Scholar Ashley Conner said.
Mallach agrees. “I was a bit surprised, but at the same time understanding,” he said. “The SA government needs to be put back on track.”
Sophomore and Towers Senator Peter Nabozny feels the decision will negatively impact many groups. “It is really unfortunate,” he said.
Additional reporting by Jeff Keesing.Schnee can be reached at cschnee@campustimes.org.
