Fee increases are all the rage.
On Tuesday, the U Board of Trustees will vote on a package of fee increases, including a $2.68 increase in the Student Publications Fee. The stated objective of the publications fee increase is to fund a non-existent University Student Media Council, but aside from that, the goals of the increase are virtually unknown.
Although the fee increase will be voted on this week, the proposal that it is meant to fund likely won’t be presented to the Board of Trustees until May or April. This raises a number of problems, not the least of which is that the Trustees haven’t even read the proposal because it isn’t finished and hasn’t been presented to them or made public. Proponents of the fee increase are basically asking the Trustees to vote on faith that the money will be put to good use.
Despite the utter lack of transparency about the fee, there is a good chance the money will go toward hiring a new student media advocate, funding a student-run public relations agency and paying the cost of running KUTE, the U’s floundering student radio station. However, none of these things are certain because the details of the plan have been kept secret. Even if they were clearly detailed and open to the public, they are not necessary.
In the case of a student media advocate, what would be the purpose of such a bureaucratic position but to be a babysitter and pose as a go-between8212;and ultimately an obstacle8212;between student media and the proposed media council? It is especially unnecessary considering many student media organizations already have faculty advisers.
During a time when the U is pinching every penny, is it really necessary to increase student fees to pay for the salary of a new administrator? Is it necessary to raise tens of thousands of dollars in fees to fund KUTE? All of these are a waste of student money and could put the independence of student-run media at risk.
Considering the uproar on both sides of the issue that the proposed ASUU sustainability fee increase has caused, it is amazing how silently this fee increase has sailed along. At least the proposed sustainability fee was made public. The chairman of the existing Publications Council and members of our staff were not aware of this fee increase until last week, even though it was proposed to administrators months ago.
Proponents of the fee increase have hoped to allay fears by explaining that even if the fee is approved, plans for the new council could change. We couldn’t have said it better ourselves. How can the Board of Trustees be expected to vote for a fee that has no solid objectives? If the increase is passed, it will rubber-stamp a mysterious proposal with details no one will know for at least another month, if not longer. The process has been done entirely backward.
In the absence of any public details, all we can know about this fee increase is that it could limit the independence of student media and waste student fees during an economic recession. The Trustees should vote the fee increase down and insist the process be done in the correct order.
The Trustees meeting will take place Tuesday at 8 a.m. in the Alumni House.
Correction: In the original version of this article, it was misstated that the publication fee would increase by $2.50. The actual proposed increase is $2.68 or $1.34 per semester.