The concept of a student activity fee began as a pledge by students in 1883 to fund the ’87 Gym’s construction and was continued in the 1950s in order to support the current Union building.

Chair of the Activity Fee Subcommittee Nick Wood ’07 presented the Senate with the activity fee recommendation, as well as the methodology for the recommendation and all major changes that were made for the 2007-2008 year budget.

Before the decisions on the amount of each year’s activity fees are made, each club or activity on campus is responsible for drafting a budget request to be submitted to the Executive Board. Individual sports team budgets are also compiled into a larger intercollegiate athletics budget that is submitted, and operations in the Union are also asked to prepare their own budgets for the following year, including the Bookstore, Father’s, the Games Room, and Union Administration and Student Activities.

The E-Board takes all of these budgets and compiles the annual budget for that year. The difference between the expenses and the income from Union operations becomes the annual request for subsidy, or the total amount of activity fee funds needed from the student body to support the budget. It is split between the undergraduate and graduate students based on the subcommitee’s analysis of how much the activity fee benefits each group.

The key focus of this year’s budgeting as cited by President of the Union James Fisher ’07 was the quality of experience provided to the student body and to reinforce organizational purpose with appropriate funding. This is meant to ensure support for the student-led activities which serve as a foundation of the student life experience.

According to Wood, the budget created for this fiscal year is the largest budget in Union history, with an increase of 8.4 percent in clubs and general activities and a 6.9 percent increase in intercollegiate athletics, due mostly to travel and tournament costs. The higher budget, however, will be offset slightly with the higher revenue from the bookstore due to increased sales of sweatshirts and non-textbook merchandise.

Next year’s fee has been set at $513.00 for undergraduate students, for a 4.59 percent increase, and $267.80 for graduate students, for a 4.61 percent increase. Summer sessions also have an activity fee of $10.50 per week, which is a half dollar increase from last year.

“The activity fee increase is on par with others passed in the last decade,” said Wood. “Given the fact that high increases are called for in club and athletic subsidies, we were still able to lighten the impact with revenue generated from the bookstore and food service operations.”

The Senate approved the activity fee in a unanimous vote. The Union budget will now be sent to the Board of Trustees to be ratified and implemented in next year’s Institute budget.

The Senate also had two representatives from Troy Student Housing come to the meeting and present a proposal on why they should be allowed to advertise in the Union.

Regional Manager of Troy Student Housing Jamie Bray and Property Manager Jason Hayes gave the Student Senate a presentation on how the organization has turned around since the apartments it manages were managed by RPI Rentals. They included how they have improved safety measures in the apartments, average response time to non-emergency problems in the apartments, what amenities the apartments are equipped with, and showed before and after pictures of several of the apartments that had been renovated.

The representatives from Troy Student Housing also provided the Senate with testimonials from a variety of RPI students who are currently residents in the apartments.

Bray felt the meeting went very well and Hayes added, “We are pleased for the opportunity to be working with the Senate, since I think we are ultimately working toward the same goals.”

At yesterday’s meeting, the Student Senate continued their discussion of the issue, and ultimately decided to recind the motion passed last year barring Troy Student Housing from advertising in the Union and on the off-campus housing website probationally. This will allow Troy Student Housing to advertise in the Union for a period of a year; however, the organization will be responsible for presenting to the Senate at least once a semester to show that they are continually improving and addressing the concerns of RPI students.