The proposed green fee will now have to wait a month to be voted on by the Student Activity Fee Committee after sufficient student feedback could not be attainted by the original voting date of Oct. 26.
This past Friday, the SAFC held a meeting where they discussed their attempts to receive student feedback on a proposed green fee that would be funded by reallocated money from the Student Activity Fee.
The SAFC held a town hall meeting and set up a table in the courtyard to gather the feedback.
“I’d say about 20 students came [to the town hall meeting] and they all seemed very excited about it,” Miguel Colmenares, a voting member of the SAFC, said. “Most of them had comments and ways that we could reach the students even more. When asked who would personally support the fee, all of the students in the room raised their hand.”
The table set up in the courtyard also received a large number of student interest and feedback.
While the feedback collected at the two events may have reached the SAFC, they decided to extend the voting date for the fee from Oct. 26 to Nov. 30 because of a survey they plan to send out through the Office of Institutional Research on Nov. 5 to every enrolled student on campus to get a broader view of opinions.
According to Rebecca Stout, associate vice president dean of students, if the Office of Institutional Research sent out the survey by Nov. 5 they would be able to have the results almost immediately after No. 16, the end date for the survey.
The only scheduled meeting after Nov. 16 was Nov. 30, prompting the committee members to choose that meeting to vote on the fee.
Following the movement of the voting date for the green fee, different fee councils came to the SAFC and explained how they were improving their community involvement and how they allocated the money given to them.
The SAFC needed to see where they could cut money without affecting too many students.
Prior to the meeting, the councils were told to be prepared to answer two questions: what would you do if you received more money and what would you do if received less money?
While all councils were asked the questions, few gave specific answers like the College of Arts of Sciences and the Robinson College of Business who specifically mentioned what they would add or cut.
The College of Arts and Sciences mentioned “a reevaluation of the criteria for funding. We would have to look at rather to fund the larger organizations as opposed to the smaller organizations, or drastically cut funding for larger organizations to fund the smaller organizations.”
Other fee councils did not fully answer the question and simply stated that a budget cut would “significantly hamper the programming that students have come to enjoy and expect.”
