At its meeting Monday, the Student Senate debated the recommendation for the Union activity fee for 2006-2007. After reviewing the club and athletics budgeting done by the Executive Board, the Senate set the undergraduate fee with an increase of 4.25 percent to $490.50, while the graduate fee increased 4.9 percent to $256.
In the meeting Senate-E-Board Liaison Nick Wood presented the activity fee and clarified the numbers and reasons for the changes made to the expenses. He explained the process that went into creating the activity fee, starting with the individual club budgeting and E-Board review of the budgets. Next, the Activity Fee Subcommittee reviews the revenue projections and make a recommendation for a fee for the undergraduates and graduates, followed by Student Senate approval. Finally, the fee is ratified by the Preisdent and Board of Trustees and incorporated into the Institute’s budget.
Wood commented that with the new activity fee the “budget is leaner and meaner” and that “about 60 percent of the expenditures are due to athletics.” In the Senate debate, two major issues came up with the activity fee. The first concern was the wording of the motion for approving the fee that included moving $10,000 from the contingency account to fund the Ruckus service on campus for next year. This matter was settled when one of the senators made it clear that the $10,000 was included into the budget and if and when the contract was to be approved the money could be directed into Ruckus, or moved back to contingency if the contract was not renewed.
Also of concern at the meeting were the multicultural clubs. Senator Mike Goldenberg ’06 pointed out that “the Black Students Alliance spends $12,000 for 87 students whereas the rest of the multicultural clubs spend $14,000 for 1,100 students.” He explained that the imbalance seemed to be in the distribution of funding within the multicultural clubs. Goldenberg’s concern was that it seemed unfair that such a small amount of students was receiving such a large amount of money. Wood explained that the budget for each club was based on what programs that club had planned for the year.
Despite these concerns, the recommendation was approved 17-0-1 after the debate.
This year, there were many changes in the expenses of the various clubs and activities provided by the Union. In particular, men’s and women’s ice hockey saw the biggest increase of 11.66 percent. Overall, intercollegiate athletics saw an increase of 7.05 percent. There were also several notable increases and decreases to various club budgets. Crew’s budget saw a reduction by $3,484, Go Be Red funding increased by $3,422.50, the Pep Band’s budget decreased by $4,746, the Sailing Club’s increased by $2,705, the Union Speakers Forum’s increased by $6,621.00, and UPAC Concerts’ went down by $7,239.00.
Originally a student pledge used to fund construction of the ’87 gym in 1883, the activity fee became an annual tax in the 1950s to support the building of the Union. The activity fee is currently based on a compromise between the undergraduates and the graduates on dividing the total Union expenditures between the two groups.
