Friday the Brickyard was host to students protesting the Student Senate’s endorsement of the student center renovation fee increase as the Coalition for Student Voices sought to spread awareness of its cause.  

Spokesperson for the Coalition, Daniel Marcus, said the point of the protest was to create momentum toward understanding the process that has allowed the student center fee increase to move forward.

“We are forming together to fight the broader issue of holding the administration responsible for not informing students of what they were voting for and why concerned students are not getting answers, since Student Government is not,” he said.

After handing out fliers and talking to students, the protestors moved to Holladay Hall to speak with Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs Tom Stafford.  

Coalition spokesperson Vidya Sankar said the protestors gave Stafford direct questions and conveyed their point but he consistently dodged questions.

“The Coalition expressed their concerns, but were not given comprehensive answers and were instead redirected to other administrators who were not reachable at that time,” she said. “We asked him where Campus Enterprises raised the $10,000 and what it was going to but he didn’t give us a real source. We want to know how to contact Campus Enterprises and that has never been provided.”

The Coalition said the campaign has not provided specifics about where the money came from, signs for the campaign did not provide information about how much fees would be raised and the way administration informed students was with a technique called “astroturfing.”

According to Sankar, the primary reason for the protest was to ensure the University’s administration and Board of Trustees listen to the voices of students.

“The Coalition plans on ensuring that those in power keep the interests of students above other interests, such as administrative politics and corporate profits,” she said.

Marcus supplemented by saying the process of the Talley campaign is the current focus.

“Our goal is to uncover how and why the process happened the way it did, a process that should be easily available to students and it is not,” Marcus said.

Sen. Sam Daughtry said he agrees with that mission. He voted against recommending the Talley fee to the administration, and has said he is looking into the source of the funding of the Talley campaign.

“We, as a senate, have requested budget sheets from the Rally 4 Talley people and still have yet to see them,” he said.

Daughtry, a lifelong education student, represents older students who have not applied to a college – also known as non-traditional students. He said these students typically pay more in student fees because they spend longer on degrees since they are not full-time students.

“My constituents have families to support and are working while they go to school and they voted no because the fees were going to be too high for them to pay,” he said. “They voted no, so I voted no.”

Student Senate held an open forum Wednesday for students to voice their opinions about the vote, but few students showed. Student Senate President Kelli Rogers said she is disappointed more people don’t attend.  

“All senate meetings are listed online and senators are always open for questions over the phone and through e-mail,” she said.  

She agrees it is good the Brickyard is available for students to protest, but said they should come to the senate meetings because the senators are there to listen.

“It is important for students with concerns to be heard, and we are here to listen,” she said.

Rogers said there was miscommunication between the press and the senate, which led to students being confused as well, but by going straight to the source, this confusion could be avoided.

“Early on after the vote I think senators were confused about the connection with the press, but at open forums every senator has talked so I encourage more students to come out to the meetings if they have questions,” she said.

Daughtry said he doesn’t think people will continue to vote in elections if the results are like this one.  

“Senators should represent their constituents. Students said no and the senators shouldn’t change that,” he said.

He recommended students call for release of all e-mails between administration and Talley people.