Student Fee Advisory Committee's rejection of fund request for writing center ultimately protects other student services

While the relationship between a university administration and students should be an amicable one, the strains created by different goals become even clearer in a fiscal crisis.

Recently, UCLA administrators asked the Student Fee Advisory Committee, a student-majority group, to temporarily fund a writing center that would replace Covel Peer Learning Labs.

When that proposal was rejected, I thought SFAC was making a mistake ““ student fees should fund academic programs. But I realized I came to this conclusion without even knowing what the Student Services Fee was, and with that information, it’s clear that SFAC has students’ interests in mind. In order to protect other programs highly valued on this campus, SFAC took a stance against administrative power and said no.

Formally known as the registration fee, the Student Services Fee covers services and programs related to student health, cultural activities and campus community. Look to our Arthur Ashe Student Health Center, the John Wooden Center or career services for examples.

This fee is separate from the tuition fee, and was created when the UCs decided to make tuition explicitly fund costs related to instruction, such as faculty salaries, learning centers and so on.

In response, students came together decades ago and created a new fee to cover programs just as important as, but not directly a part of, instructional or administrative ones.

Think of how much we all pay to attend UCLA. Then consider that the Student Services Fee is $972 per student each academic year.

Our fees are only divided between that and tuition, and since tuition is meant to cover programs associated with instruction, why should the smaller fee be given the burden of a program that the administration just cut out from the budget?

Plus, the purpose of the smaller fee is now more transparent than ever. Student fee policy guidelines were restructured last year, and SFAC’s biggest achievement in that process was solidifying not only a more distinct separation between tuition and student service fees, but making sure students could easily access the latter. With a waiver, a student can even opt out of which services he or she does not want to fund.

By the very nature of its origin, SFAC can only fund programs that are complementary to the core instructional programs. While a learning center may certainly seem complementary, some UCLA writing courses have required attendance to Writing II Programs at Covel, and given credit for doing so.

As such, SFAC rightfully sees funding a program that can be intimately tied to classwork as a violation of their policy.

The Division of Undergraduate Education and the UCLA Writing Programs, the administrative units behind the proposal, are not ill-intentioned. Learning centers are integral to the academic success of a campus, and the enduring outcry against the elimination of Covel Peer Learning Labs points to their importance to and popularity among students.

Other UCs are now using Student Services Fees to fund learning programs. Considering that the Vice Provost of Undergraduate Education, Judith Smith, looked to sister campuses as models for new avenues of funding, it was not outlandish to make the request.

But SFAC is just as valid in wanting to protect the programs for which it is actually meant to advise.

To only make comparisons to other UCs as justification for trying to use Student Fees to fund a writing center is not enough ““ programs at different UCs are not identical. Also, many campuses made those choices under the pressures of a budget crisis; SFAC feels that UCLA could close doors to other student services in the long run if the fee is stretched too thin.

Perhaps other UCs feel legitimate in their decision to reallocate the Student Services Fee beyond its parameters when having to make cuts to a multi-million dollar budget.

Yet, in remembering the above facts I am reminded of another: SFAC is a student-majority committee. Its members study education, labor, political science, or they work in student resources ““ they are people intimately involved in academics, and I find it safe to say that their concerns are more similar to mine than the administration’s are.

UCLA needs a writing center. But cutting into other programs we use and appreciate to fund one is not the answer.

Do you think the Student Services Fee should fund a new writing center? Email Moradi at [email protected]. Send general comments to [email protected].