On a campus like the University, it may be hard for students to feel that they leave a lasting impact on campus after graduation. The Student Senate wants to change that by giving students the power to decide how to spend $800,000. When the student government sets student incidental fees, the amount each student pays is based on projected enrollment. For several years, enrollment has been higher than projected, meaning that extra incidental fee money was collected but not spent. That money is now sitting in an account, building interest and waiting for right project.
Because the amount of over-realized funds has been building for long enough that many of the students who paid the fees have already graduated, the money cannot be refunded, so the Student Senate is asking students for proposals on how students want to spend the money. The Senate Appropriations Committee is taking proposals until week six of winter term. Early in spring term, the committee plans to host a town hall meeting where members of the University community can voice their opinions on the best proposals.
Students can download the proposal form from the Senate Web site (http://asuo.uoregon.edu/senate.php) or pick one up in the ASUO office in the EMU. All proposal forms must be returned to the ASUO office by Feb. 18, said Sen. Jacob Daniels, head of the appropriations committee.
Members of the appropriations committee will spend the final few weeks of winter term narrowing the field down to three proposals, which they will then present to the campus community at the town hall meeting in the spring. Members of the Senate want to get the word out that although anyone can submit a proposal, they hope the winning one will come from the student body.
“It’s a lot of money that can do a lot for the University, but if regular students aren’t involved, it’s just going to be the same elite group that always allocates these funds,” Daniels said.
Daniels said that submitting proposals on how to spend the money is a way the average student can “leave a lasting contribution” on the campus.
University senior Jennifer Dollins said giving students the opportunity to decide how to spend the over-realized money is a good idea, but said there should be more direction on what types of projects the money can go toward.
“I would recommend it be put – at least in part – to student groups,” she said.
Dollins said she might submit a proposal if she thought she had one that would be considered. She then suggested that the money could go toward turning one of the student parking lots into a parking structure. “This is a real opportunity for students to have a hands-on involvement in not just our student government, but also our University,” Daniels said. “This is not something we’ll see happen again during our time here.”
Senators on the committee discussed their ideas for spreading the word at their Sunday night meeting. Sen. Ashley Sherrick said she spoke to journalism classes and gave out proposal forms to almost every student. Within the next week, senators will be coming to classes, walking around campus and setting up tables to spread the word.
Contact the campus and federal politics reporter at [email protected]
Tell the student senate how you would spend $800,000:
Anyone can submit proposals for how to spend $800,000 of unexpected incidental fee money, but Student Senators would like to see the winning proposals come from students.
Proposal forms can be downloaded on the ASUO Web site at http://asuo.uoregon.edu/senate.php or picked up in the ASUO office.
All proposal forms must be returned to the ASUO office by Sunday, Feb. 18.
In the next few weeks, senators will be speaking in classes and will be walking around campus distributing forms and answering questions.