Students walk out on Richmond
Times Standard 4/3/07
After the Associated Students read a letter to Richmond that outlined their qualms with the proposed $202 instructionally related fee increase, A.S. President Crystal Chaney asked Richmond to give a yes or no to their demands.
When Richmond answered by saying he wasn't ready to make any decisions, members of A.S. left their chairs and the room, in effect ending the meeting, as there was no quorum.
”I think you've made a mistake in not listening,” Richmond said as the students walked out. Richmond was scheduled to give his final recommendations regarding the budget crisis, his plans to mend the more than $5 million budget deficit and whether the fee hike would be pushed through.
But after anticipating where his presentation would go -- students' voices have been overruled in previous years regarding fee increases -- students figured it was time to stand firm and to not argue back and forth.
”We want a voice, we want a vote and we want to manage this,” said Terra Rentz, an HSU senior who spoke into a microphone prior to the meeting on the university's quad. Only minutes before, a live dog and pony were being walked around in reference to the phrase “dog and pony show,” a term used to describe a contrived presentation that seeks approval.
”We kind of feel like that's what's happening with our administration,” Chaney said. “They're running us around in circles and not giving us information until there's nothing we can do about it.”
Richmond said he'll announce his final decisions late next week, as he still has to converse with vice presidents. But he did take some of the responsibility regarding HSU's budget hole.
After being asked by the college newspaper's editor if the administration took any blame for the current budget deficit, Richmond said, “Yeah, I think we could have taken some of the actions we're taking now earlier.”
But students wanted more. They wanted to vote on whether to pay 420 percent more in fees, especially because many disagree with the manner in which they're being “clumped” together.
”They do not meet the criteria for instructionally related fees,” said Rob Christensen, A.S. administrative vice president.
The $250 fee each semester, if approved, would fund intercollegiate athletics, provide students with a countywide bus pass and go toward the energy independence fund.
”Students deserve the right to have a say on whether to initiate a tax, no matter how good a program may sound,” the letter to Richmond from A.S. students read. “We do not appreciate the manipulative practice of clumping up these fees to count on getting more support from students.”
If the fee increase is pushed through, HSU's middle ranking (when it comes to student fees) in the 23-campus California State University system would jump to third highest, behind San Luis Obispo and Sonoma State University.
Richmond said he would have preferred to have had a conversation with students, adding that students who attend CSUs are “getting a fabulous educational bargain.”
He also said in a letter to the student fee advisory committee, which opposed a fee increase and called for a vote, that he didn't want to increase fees.
”I sincerely regret that we are proposing to increase fees for the students to preserve the quality of the educational opportunities we offer on this campus,” Richmond's letter read.
If students don't get what they're asking, Rentz said they'll organize sit-ins and take over Richmond's office. “We're trying to get as close to him as possible,” she said. “We're taking over Siemen's Hall until we get what we want.”