As students sign on to cast their TritonLink votes in the
A.S. Council elections this week, they will also be answering two survey
questions.
But be wary, Tritons. What smells and looks like a survey on
the usage of higher activity fees is being talked about as an inevitable fee
referendum. And by the looks of the recently needy council, made even more so
by Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs Penny Rue’s unwillingness to lend
financial aid for the new Sun God Festival, students are facing the herculean
task of funding the entirety of yet another faltering student-interest issue.
We saw the exact same maneuver from administrators unfold
last year, when they forced students to swoop in to save a sickly athletics
department with a fee referendum. This year, protest erupted concerning student
oversight of RIMAC Annex, a facility funded by student fees.
Students lack fundamental control over their referendum
monies, a fact that makes this week’s survey all the more frightening. If we
register our opinion as to how to use higher activity fees, how extensive will
our control of those funds be?
As it stands, students are left in the dark for much of
referendum expenditures. Councilmembers’ requests to track the use, or even
planned use, of last year’s athletics referendum have turned up empty.
Meanwhile, flap over the RIMAC Annex has forced councilmembers to ask for a
right they should have always had: the right to know where their money is
going.
If a larger festival does end up costing students more
activity-fee money, elements from the A.S. Council’s recent amendment must
accompany it. Without illuminating the procedures behind referendum funds,
students will end up with another muddled debacle on their hands.
Students paying more fees need to know where those fees are
being spent. Together, the survey questions and amendment makes referendum
structure more flexible. With the survey, students can specifically determine
what money should be spent on, while the amendment ensures that the money goes
to those areas.
It’s a sad revelation to know that students will undoubtedly
see this year’s survey manifest itself in a future referendum. The bleeding of
students for funds must stop here, or else we could see any number of
student-related issues needing student funds. Will students soon have to
shoulder other slumping nodes of campus such as mental health and campus
parking?
The prospect of seeing any glimpse of financial danger
partnered with a student fee referendum is not only scary — it’s costly. And
administrators need to realize that this is a cost to students who are already
facing rises in college registration fees.
