"Booths Open For Votes On SA Senate, Fee Increase"

After weeks of hype, rallies and forums, the Student Association Senate elections are finally here.

The polls will be open today, Mon. Sept. 27 through Wed., Sept. 29 in the Student Union lobby from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Also in the voting booths will be the vote on whether keep the student activity fee mandatory whether to raise it by $10, and whether to require SA to allocate $1 per student, per semester to The Spectrum.

In addition, students will be electing 12 candidates to the SA Senate.

In November 2000, both the mandatory activity fee and a fee increase were passed. Out of UB's undergraduate population of nearly 20,000, only 2,156 students voted, and 1,885 students voted to keep the fee mandatory.

More than 70 percent of the students who voted also voted yes to the fee increase.

With the four-year fee referendum right around the corner, SA President Anthony Burgio has been stressing all year the importance of the keeping the student activity fee mandatory and supporting the $10 mandatory fee increase

At a formal question and answer session Thursday in the Student Union, Burgio restated his message about the importance of those issues.

"If it is kept mandatory, fees would be constant, but if the fee was voluntary, SA would cease to exist," he said.

Burgio offered several reasons why SA needs the additional money. For one, SA is expanding and growing exponentially, he said. A $10 increase would give SA an additional $300,000 annually.

Furthermore, SA needs the money just to stay where it is, Burgio said. Over the past few years the undergraduate organization used most of its cash reserves and is now dealing with increasing prices and inflation.

"We're going broke," Burgio said.

According to Burgio, if students vote down the increase, services will be cut across the board, especially for club budgets, and events like Fall Fest will no longer be free.

"If you add up all the services you use, it makes up for it," Burgio said.

As for where the $300,000 will be specifically distributed if the referendum passes, will be up to the SA Senate.

SA Senate election parties include Free UB, Your UB Voice, UB Biz, and three independent candidates.

Each party and independent has a differing viewpoint on whether they support they fee increase.

Gregory Brown, an independent candidate, said as long as the money is distributed correctly, he has no problem with the increase.

"I'm in favor of the increase," Brown said. "Many clubs need more money, and as long as the money is in the right hands, the increase is a good thing."

Free UB candidate Carl Woelfel, a junior economics major, is on the opposite end of the spectrum. Woefel said Free UB doesn't want to increase the student activity fee, in fear that the additional money will go to waste.

Representatives from UB Biz and Your UB Voice also said that their parties support the fee increase. All parties and independent candidates support keeping the fee mandatory.