Technician
monday september
14 2009
Raleigh, North Carolina
Association’s fee creates controversy UNC System-wide Student Government receives fee from each student
Alanna Howard Correspondent
A fee each UNC System student must pay to fund a system-wide student government association has created controversy as students question what the money is earmarked for. In 2002 the UNC Association of Student Governments approved a budget that required a fee of a dollar from each student in the UNC system. The fee was appropriated to build an office for the UNCASG and travel expenses for the delegates. ASG President Greg Doucette said
an office was necessary because, in year’s past, the Association would move based on where the current president attended school. “Mail was literally going all over the place and there was no contact info for the Association because there was no home office,” Doucette said. The second use of student’s money goes to travel expenses for delegates and senators. According to the ASG’s Web site, prior to the budget approval, ASG was a dues-funded organization. “Its budget was minimal and anyone who attended its meetings had to pay for their own transportation, hotel rooms, etc,” the Web site said.
The result was low participation, especially from smaller schools with limited resources. When the Association presented its annual participation numbers to the Board of Governors, the BOG determined the group wasn’t adequately representing the student bodies of the different schools. The result was the creation of the fee so every school would have money given to represent their student body. According to the Web site, with the creation of the fee, ASG began covering the hotel costs for meeting attendees and also reimbursed travel expenses to the constituent Student Governments. The new travel funds
alone boosted participation in the organization substantially, in turn empowering the ASG President’s ability to influence debate on the Board. The budget is $202,500 annually with each dollar based on credit hours and will not be reviewed again until April 2010. Every full-time student is charged a dollar. Part-time students are charged based on the number of hours enrolled. The money is first used to pay the rent, utilities and travel expenses. Leftover money is approved at a board meeting for various programs on campuses throughout the system. The report of various uses for the left over money can be found on the As-
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sociation’s Web site, www.uncasg.org. In the past this money has been used to replace computers and implement programs on various campuses to enhance their student governments. According to Doucette, at NCSU, the fee goes mainly towards the “leadership side” instead of implementing programs across campus. Seven of the last ten years, the ASG president has been an N.C. State student. “The success of ASG has been a direct result of procedural changes based off of what the Student Government does,” Doucette said.
ASG continued page 3
Committee will not compromise Talley fee not “on table”, leaders will meet with chancellor today to iron out details Ty Johnson Editor-in-Chief
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Redshirt graduate defensive end Willie Young lunges at Murray State quarterback Niko Yantko in an attempt to stop a pass. Young recorded two sacks for 14 yards and forced a fumble in a strong defensive showing by the Wolfpack Saturday at Carter Finley Stadium.
Leaders, chancellor will work to improve campus, discuss Talley New projects, including renovations and sustainability initiatives, to kick off in the coming weeks Adair-Hayes Crane Correspondent
University leaders will meet with student leaders today to discuss plans towards moving forward with the new Talley Student Center. Plans for the new student center will include a Kay Yow Memorial. Students plan to dedicate a corner of the building, the one closest to Reynolds Coliseum, to Coach Kay Yow. It will be called the “Coaches Corner” and will be a place where students can gather and relax. Amanda Migliaccio, a sophomore majoring in social work, is anxious for the project to start. “I really can’t wait for Talley to be
spruced up because it’s the heart of campus,” Migliaccio said. “It’s where everybody hangs out and eats.” The team of students working on this project is a great team to sell the idea to University leaders, said Jim Ceresnak, student body president. “It has been a difficult process, but I am confident on Monday that we have the team of students to bring this to the student body,” he said. Student leaders have already received early donations towards the memorial. Chancellor James Woodward is pleased with the progress of that project. “We’re close to a level that we will discuss with student leadership on Monday,” Woodward said at the Board of Trustees meeting Friday morning. In addition to the Talley project, student leaders are also beginning a project to increase energy efficiency on campus. The program is called
PackPulse. PackPulse is an energy monitoring system that will be put into residence halls to determine exactly how much energy is used in the building at a time. Students will be able to view the amount of energy being used through a channel on their television screens. The project is designed to help students decrease the amount of energy they use. “What we’re doing is changing the culture and awareness of the students,” Ceresnak said. “We’ve had a lot of students from other campuses contact us about it.” In October, Owen and Syme residence halls will compete against each other to see who uses the least amount of energy throughout the month. According to Erin Williams, a sophomore in biology and a former resident of Owen, residents used a lot
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of energy there last year. “I think it sounds like a good idea because I know a lot of people would leave stuff plugged in even when they’re not using it,” Williams said. “I hope it makes people think more about using extra energy.” In addition to those projects, Ceresnak announced on Friday at the Board of Trustees meeting that a new student discount network will develop in the Hillsborough Street, Western Boulevard and Cameron Village areas. Students will be able to use their student ID to receive either a five or ten percent discount, Ceresnak said. Ceresnak is impressed with the reaction around campus regarding the new projects. “Students have really risen to the occasion here at our University,” he said.
Though the Talley Student Center fee is the “800-lb gorilla in the room,” Student Body President Jim Ceresnak said the fee review committee is taking a “business-as-usual” approach to its charge and won’t sacrifice the validity of other fees while the details of the Rally4Talley fee are determined. “I think it’s important that we go through the fee process fully,” Ceresnak said. “We’re going through the process as we would any other year.” Ceresnak said fee requests are lower than in the past and that the committee would evaluate the merits of every fee. But the fee-proposal process will be different this year, according to Student Senate President Kelli Rogers who said instead of submitting videos, proposals will be made in person and videotaped. The recording will allow proposal videos to be posted online for students to watch. Rogers said during Friday’s meeting the committee evaluated each department closely before even discussing fee increases. “We went over the history of all the fees, even if they weren’t requesting an increase,” Rogers said. “We saw how much on reserve each department had to make sure they weren’t routinely getting more money they deserve.” Rogers said the initial look at the fees was mostly on a preliminary basis, and that many of the fees would change before they are finalized for consideration. Rogers said the fees as they were drawn up would result in a 3.47 percent fee increase, but said it didn’t include any numbers on a Talley
FEE continued page 3
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A representative from Balfour Class Rings will be at NC State Bookstores September 14 -19 from 10am to 2pm
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