USAC to revise fee referendum for fall

By Robert Salonga
DAILY BRUIN SENIOR STAFF
[email protected]

A failed spring referendum to increase student council fees may
breathe new life when its goes up for a vote in the fall.

The Undergraduate Students Association Council decided to revive
the item after it failed to attract a minimum 10 percent of
students though it was approved by over 80 percent of those who
voted.

The referendum originally called for an $8.50 increase in the
existing $24.09 fee students pay USAC each quarter through
registration fees. Councilmembers hope to revise the item to raise
the fee further and ensure that in the future the fee is adjusted
for inflation.

USAC previously considered writing a letter to Chancellor Albert
Carnesale asking him to implement the referendum anyway, since an
overwhelming majority of voters approved it.

But members decided not to use the letter-writing approach
““ last done by the 2000-01 council asking Carnesale for an
extension to revise its funding bylaws ““ and not dilute the
power of such a gesture.

“We didn’t want to do something that might cost us
later in terms of political capital,” said President David
Dahle.

External Vice President Chris Neal said it was important for
USAC to maintain its autonomy and not turn to the Chancellor in
difficult situations.

Administrators on council said USAC made the right decision.

“It would not be fair to ask the chancellor to do
something against the rules to get it passed,” said Berky
Nelson, director of the Center for Student Programming and USAC
administrative representative.

Nelson added that the council should use the extra time to
gather more student input on the referendum before writing the
ballot item.

Dahle said he also wanted to simplify the language of the
referendum and reserve more money for the community service and
student welfare commissions.

Council must still determine whether the referendum vote will be
conducted via paper ballot or the online ballot used in the spring
vote. Dahle said with current budget restrictions ““ USAC is
operating with about $30,000 less programming funds than last year
““ an online vote is being heavily considered.

Neal said though council is leaning toward going online for the
referendum, he has security concerns about Internet voting and said
council still has to hammer out voting details.

USAC’s regular public meeting will be held Monday, July 8
in Kerckhoff 417 at 4:00 p.m.