UC Merced too late for an election to hike fee
Modesto Bee 5/16/07
They were trying to get a student government fee referendum on the spring ballot but ran out of time. The officers now hope to have something ready for the fall after students and administrators work out rules for running such an election.
Student leaders have been working on the election since the fall. They were planning to ask students to approve increasing the fee they pay to Associated Students of UC Merced from the present $20 to $130 a year.
Election week came and went this month without the referendum on the ballot. Some students said they were upset that administrators didn't get the election in place in time.
UC Merced student affairs administrators still are grappling with policies, procedures and guidelines, basically writing them from scratch for the two-year-old university.
"We wanted to make sure we did it right from the start," said Charles Nies, assistant vice chancellor of student affairs.
"They flushed out a whole year's work of student government," said Josh Franco, student body president. Student leaders had been poring over 2007-08 budget proposals from student clubs and organizations.
"It's ridiculous. It's frustrating," Franco said. "I understand where they're coming from. We should have pushed harder, but they knew how important this is for us."
Most of it goes to organizations
The extra money would increase ASUCM's budget from about $24,000 a year to more than $200,000.
A quarter of the fee goes to financial aid, Nies said, and about 60 percent of the current budget is doled out to student clubs and organizations for events and activities. Other money goes to outreach, lobbying and student leader training.
Before student government can propose a fee referendum, officials must write policies about how the election would be run and how the fee would be implemented and spent, Franco said.
Nies has written draft guidelines. They must go through the chancellor and vice chancellors as well as the UC system's attorneys.
When student leaders come back in the fall, they will look at the policy, and an election could be held in midto late September if everything runs smoothly, Nies said. If approved, the fee would take effect in January.
The policies must be approved by campus administrators and officials at the UC's Office of the President.
Students already pay $6,141 in registration fees (the amount is the same at each of the UC's 10 campuses) and $514 in UC Merced campus fees each year.