Student Association President Anthony Burgio said Tuesday that UB students would see a stronger, more efficient SA this year. But if they want the current quality of life here to continue, then they need to vote in favor of an increase in the Mandatory Activity Fee later this month, he said.
As set by the SUNY administration, the undergraduate government's activity fee - which every student pays each semester - must be voted on every four years. This year, Burgio has proposed a $10 increase that would bring the total fee to $79.75 per semester and increase SA's total budget by $300,000 to $2.7 million.
According to Burgio, a senior finance and history major, rising costs of services have made the increase necessary.
"Obviously, if the referendum itself doesn't pass, SA ceases to exist," he said. "But beyond that, we need this fee increase, without which SA will actually have to cut services for the first time."
The vote will be held simultaneously with the SA Senate elections, from Sept. 27-29. Burgio stressed the importance for students to know what they're voting for. Most of the $10, he said, is already spoken for and is needed to simply to stay afloat and keep SA services at their current level.
"If you want big events and you don't vote for the increase, you'll have to start paying for them," he said. "If you don't want big events, then that's fine, because you won't have them anymore. If you want clubs to be funded, if you want things like the book exchange, if you want another drunk bus running from Main Street to North Campus, you need to vote for the increase."
Burgio acknowledged that many students would balk at paying another $10.
"But if you keep in mind that a fest can cost up to $220,000, it's not a ton of money," he said. "As a percentage of $69.75 per semester, $10 might seem extravagant, but you've got to keep in mind that for four years fees have not budged."
Last year, SA's cash reserves quickly dried up, another reason Burgio said the increase is now necessary.
"SA used to be very inactive, so all its reserves built up, and the past couple years, SA has become very active and growing, so we've been spending and using these reserves, which is fine," SA treasurer Jessica Dangler said. "Now the reserves are completely gone, so this year SA is the poorest it's been a while. We can't overspend. We can't go over budget."
Burgio noted that SA always keeps a minimum reserve level, but that's not nearly enough to function without cutting services.
"SA is growing exponentially," he said.
SA's exponential growth is exactly the reason why Burgio used the Emergency Powers Committee this summer, rather than the Senate and Assembly, to propose the increase as a referendum. According to Burgio, if he had waited until October when the legislative bodies meet, the extra funds wouldn't be available until next fall, as opposed to this spring by using the EPC, which consists of the E-Board plus Senate Chair Lorenzo Guzman.
"Eyebrows get raised when we mention the EPC, but the whole point of the EPC is to meet when the Senate and Assembly are not in session and something needs to be done," Burgio said. "We need to have the students vote on (the fee) now so we have the opportunity to have new revenues this spring."
As for whether enough undergraduates will even come out and vote, Burgio said he has confidence in this year's turnout because of the positive reactions students have had to recent SA endeavors, such as SA Entertainment, funding clubs and bringing health services to North Campus.
"To me it doesn't make any sense that you'd go to school and pay the comprehensive fee and all the other fees, and then not care about the one fee you have control over," said Burgio.
Dangler said she had confidence in the turnout because of the thousands of students directly involved in clubs that will depend on this increase to function. "To those people it really matters," she said.
SA Vice President Dela Yador echoed Burgio's sentiments.
"If people really see and really understand where this money is going - towards clubs, towards events, especially free events - then I hope they'll come out (and vote)," he said.
The fee-vote aside, this year's E-Board seems well aware of the many challenges that face them. Yador said one of his biggest challenges will be networking the hundreds of different clubs within SA.
"Dance Dance Revolution -- I didn't know what they were about," Yador said. "And during orientation, they had a little thing set up and I hopped on, and did a little dance or whatever real quick and I realized everybody has their own interests and they all bring a certain piece to the table, and it's our job to make it work."
Dangler, a senior mechanical engineering major, said some of her biggest challenges will be making SA a welcoming place for all students and, obviously, handling the finances.
Neither of the three E-Board members think last year's accusations of funds misappropriation will have a negative effect on this year's administration.
"There are two sides to every story," Dangler said. "A lot of the stuff I read in Generation was completely unfounded."
Burgio called the accusations a "true learning experience." Both he and Yador agreed the whole situation was something of a wakeup call to the problematic communication gap between the undergraduate population and SA.
"You have to get out there and talk to students," Burgio said. "I believe a small percentage of students, but a significant percentage nonetheless, has some legitimate complaints about us, but those are generally misguided."
Burgio said he still sees no problem with using two percent of SA's budget to develop a staff that must be able to work the other 98 percent of its budget.
Either way, Burgio thinks UB students will like what they see this year from SA.
"Strengthening SA, that's what students are going to see this year," he said. "An effort on every level in every opening possible to grab more for the students. More money, more services, more pull with the administration. Students are going to see a stronger SA by the end of the year."
"I think they'll see the E-Board being more student-like," said Yador, a fourth year communications and psychology major. "There have been times when the student body couldn't really relate to the E-Board."
Another big change this year will be in SA Entertainment, which saw its director Maggie Hausbeck depart for a job in Las Vegas. Now, with former UB undergrad Marc Rosenblatt in the director's chair, SA Entertainment has taken a greater role in booking and scheduling not just for campus-wide events, but also for club events. "It's just a natural extension of SA Entertainment," Burgio said.
Also, for the first time this semester there are health services available to students on North Campus, as opposed to only Michael Hall on South Campus. "It was something we campaigned for, and everyone doubted us big time," Burgio said.
Burgio called the success of landing a health services center in the Student Union a textbook example of how SA needs to work with the UB administration and President John Simpson.
"It's been great so far. Everything we've had to get done, we've gotten done," he said.
But with the mandatory fee vote only weeks away, Burgio worries if SA will be able to get anything done in the future if the increase doesn't pass.
"I think the bottom line that sums up all points is that SA is responsible for providing all undergraduates with a certain quality of life on this campus," he said.
Burgio stressed SA's importance not only to clubs and fests, but also to The Spectrum, Sub-Board and various academic organizations.
"If you think about what this campus would look like without the SA, what do you have left?"
