Early this morning the University Fee Review Committee made one of the important yearly decisions that impact students’ lives and wallets most of all: the student fee proposals for next year.

Now, I ask you, did the Student Senators we voted into office to be our voice in matters like this fight for us? The answer, unfortunately, is NO. For the first time in decades, the Student Senate failed to represent students in doing its duty to make fee recommendations.

To some, these recommendations from the Student Senate may seem irrelevant, but this is far from the truth. The recommendations from the Student Senate carry significant weight when it comes down to finalizing the fee amounts. The work and recommendations of last year’s Senate saved students approximately $90.

Ninety dollars is a lot of money. With that money you can buy 41 gallons of gas, 20 Cook Out dinners or almost seven cases of beer. That, of course, was last year when the Student Senate fought against unnecessary fees and fee increases.

This year the Senate needs to shape up or ship out of office. You would think within Student Senate, the Tuition and Fees Committee would do as the Senate has done for decades and craft a response to each fee proposed by the University. Under the leadership of the Committee Chair Adam Gardner, all five members of the committee have been negligent in their duties in this area, not to mention tuition.

Located within the Senate’s own governing documents, Senate Rule 3(f) states the committee’s duties: “The Committee on Tuition and Fees shall formulate policy and consider legislation pertaining to student tuition, fees, and other monetary charges, the administration’s budget priorities and requests, the budgetary process of the Board of Governors and the North Carolina General Assembly and other matters of student costs and University funding.”

Last year’s Student Senate passed seven fee-related resolutions that affect the outcome of fees. This year’s Senate has only one such resolution, which will they will not even vote on before the Administrative Fee Committee meets on Friday to make its decisions.

But there is another problem. According to University policy, the Student Senate should be “… presented [the fee proposals] to the Student Senate for consideration.”

The Senate is at fault for not fighting to obtain the fee proposals, but the fault in this is shared by the University Fee Review Committee, chaired by Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Tom Stafford. Student Senate President Zach Adams must work with Stafford in ensuring the Senate is involved with the process, as in previous decades; additionally, Stafford is bound by university policy to provide the Student Senate with the fee information.

Because the Student Senate has been derelict in its duties in relation to the fee proposal for this year, let me inform you of some of the fee proposals. More than likely, these figures will be close to the actual amounts voted on this morning.

The University is asking for a $182 increase in student fees for next year. The two biggest fee-increase requests are coming from athletics. It is asking for an additional $41 ($66 overall) for indebtedness (expanding Carter-Finley and the new Derr Complex) and an additional $40 ($159 overall fee) for its budget operations. And this is just the tip of a large iceberg.

Now, if the Senate had done its job it would fight these fee increases, because students are going to be paying more and getting much less in return. Students are not getting more seats in Carter-Finley or the RBC Center, so why pay more if we get nothing in return? Students will see some benefit out of the new Derr Complex when it is done, but asking students to spend an additional $40 is too much.

This year’s Student Senate has dropped the ball in representing the students’ interests when it comes to fees. Our fate has now come into the hands of three student members on the Administrative Fee Committee: Laura DeCastro, John Small and Adam Gardner. Students, when you don’t get to keep your $90 like last year, you can place the blame on the Student Senate and the three student committee members.

E-mail Matt at [email protected].