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Friday, March 29, 2024
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Students to pay higher mandatory activity fee

Despite low voter turnout, SA passes referendum, Constitution Party assumes Senate seats

On Sept. 24-26, UB undergraduate students voted in the SU on whether they wanted to keep the mandatory student activity fee and whether they agreed to the $10 increase in fee. Both votes passed.
Juan D. Pinzon, The Spectrum
On Sept. 24-26, UB undergraduate students voted in the SU on whether they wanted to keep the mandatory student activity fee and whether they agreed to the $10 increase in fee. Both votes passed. Juan D. Pinzon, The Spectrum

The Student Association’s mandatory activity fee will be raised by $10, based on a vote that only brought about 5 percent of UB’s 20,000 undergraduates to the polls.

The mandatory student activity fee will be raised to $104.75. Just fewer than 1,000 students voted. The voters also elected next year’s SA Senate in the Sept. 24-26 election.

The increase of the mandatory student activity fee passed with 632 “yes” votes and 338 “no” votes. The referendum passed with 858 “yes” votes and 131 “no” votes.

UB has a referendum every two years to allow students to vote on whether or not they want to keep the mandatory student activity fee, in accordance to SUNY policies. This is the first time in six years the fee has increased. In 2008, students agreed to a $15 increase from its $79.95 fee.

The student activity fee helps SA pay for the events on campus, such as Fall Fest, Spring Fest, SA Carnival and the Distinguished Speakers Series.

Buffalo now has a larger mandatory activity fee than Binghamton University ($95.50), Stony Brook University ($99.50) and University at Albany ($100).

Student Association President James Ingram said increased operating costs for SA are the reason the organization asked to up the fee. He said the $10 increase will allow SA to offer the same level of quality and services as well give next year’s SA potential to grow.

Ingram said he would also like to put more money toward clubs, specifically increasing future club budgets.

Along with the referendum vote, students elected senators for the 2014-15 year. This year’s elected party is the Constitution Party. The elected senators are Paris Canty, Matthew Cato, Alex Dvorscak, Anthony J. Fields, Daniel Giles, Laura Grassi, David Harary, Esther Hong, Karen Hsieh, Diane Orosz, Corey Reisman and Yaser Soliman.

In past years, senators were divided into on-campus and off-campus groups. On-campus students could only vote for candidates living on campus and the same rule applied for off-campus students. The rule was amended last semester and students can vote for whichever candidates.

Giles, a re-elected senator, said the Senate decided its three main goals for the semester are “investing in the UB experience, promoting the UB brand and encouraging student participation.”

Giles also said he expects to see an increase in student services after the $10 increase. If there aren’t, he said “rectifying potential problems of that nature is part of the Senate’s job.”

Students will start paying the increased fee in fall 2015.

email: news@ubspectrum.com

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