ASUSU wants student support at rally
Doug Smeath, Assistant News Editor
The Associated Students of Utah State University Executive Council hopes this legislative session will be the one to bring increased funding to higher education.
And they hope students who agree will have every opportunity to join them in rallying support from the Legislature.
At its weekly meeting Tuesday night, the council voted to approve a resolution encouraging student involvement at a “High Noon for Higher Ed” rally at the state Capitol in Salt Lake City Feb. 14.
“[State legislators] have been saying for years that next year is higher ed’s year, and we want to make sure that this is higher ed’s year,” said ASUSU President Ben Riley.
He said the goal will be to encourage the Legislature, which began its session Monday, to match as closely as possible Gov. Mike Leavitt’s budget recommendations concerning higher education in the state.
The resolution would give the rally status as a university-excused absence, allowing students to attend without losing participation points in missed classes. Professors would also be required to allow students to make up tests or assignments under the university’s excused-absence policy.
“The investment of time we put into [the rally] could pay off handsomely,” Riley said.
The resolution mentions the rally will help educate students in the political process.
Riley said he would like to hire a bus to drive rallying students to the Capitol. However, a similar rally last year saw only about 20 USU students participating and the bus was unnecessary.
Either a bus or a carpooling plan will be used this year, Riley said.
The resolution, which passed with one opposing vote cast by ASUSU Public Relations Vice President Marni Jenkins, needs to be approved by Faculty Senate before being official.
The council also discussed financing concerns in next year’s proposed budget.
USU Assistant Vice President for Student Life Gary Chambers led the council in the discussion, pointing out a sharp decline in recent years in the percentage of the ASUSU budget going to council offices.
Since 1990, the council’s budget has gone from being 65 percent of the overall budget to just 45 percent this year.
Chambers said possible solutions would include eliminating some fixed costs, eliminating some programs or raising student fees.
“That would be my last suggestion,” Chambers said. “I think you should look under every rock before doing that type of thing.”
Most council members agreed, saying that while raising fees may be an easy solution for them, it wouldn’t be easy on students who had to pay more for their education.
ASUSU Executive Vice President Rex Hansen asked Chambers to give suggestions on what, aside from raising fees, could be done.
“It’s the university’s money … that you let us use,” he said.
ASUSU Academics Vice President Jim Stephenson suggested some of the budget reductions could come by reducing the cost of council advisers.
The advisers, Stephenson said, are important to the council, but he said other student government groups throughout the state get by with fewer advisers.
“I think there are those kinds of conversations that can be looked at,” Chambers said. “I think it comes down to a mix of what [the] council thinks needs to be done and who’s going to do it.”
He said one possibility would be to redo some of the advisers’ contracts from the current 12 months they serve, giving some of them time off during summer.
But Chambers said the work of advisers goes beyond advising the council and pointed out some peripheral costs, such as last year’s brochure in favor of a proposed Student Recreation Center, also come from the budget’s fixed costs.
Council members expressed concern at the idea of losing programming money, saying students’ fees should go as much as possible toward programs for the students.
Chambers said an ideal budget would use all student-fee money for things that all students can use, such as campus-wide programming, but he said such university entities as the Children’s House, Multicultural Student Services and advisers for fraternities and sororities depend on the money they get from fees.
He said it is basically necessary to provide money for programs that target specific populations of students as well as other programs for the entire student body.
The council will vote to approve some version of the budget in an upcoming meeting.
Following that, the budget must pass several other bodies before finally being signed by USU Vice President for Administrative Services Fred Hunsaker.