Executive Council pass bills concerning student fees, fund distribution on tuesday
The Executive Council of the Associated Students of Utah State University passed a bill to change the organization of the Student Fee Board and another bill to change ASUSU fund distributions in Tuesday night’s meeting.
The Student Fee Board currently has 10 members of the Executive Council deciding on the use of student fees, such as activity fees and athletic fees, Steve Palmer, ASUSU president, said.
Palmer said with this current organization, many members of the Executive Council who should have a right to vote on what activities student fees support cannot say a word, even when it concerns the council member’s specific area.
The new bill proposed all the members of the Executive Council encompass the Student Fee Board, Palmer said.
“This is a good bill to recognize who the Student Fee Board represents,” he said. “It clears up a lot of confusion.”
The council unanimously voted to pass the bill.
The Executive Council also passed a bill to change ASUSU fund distribution at the end of each year.
Preston Frischknecht, Natural Resource senator, said initially, at the end of each school year, leftover money from allotted funds would be put in a capital and support account and then some of the money would be distributed to sub accounts such as capital improvements and scholarships.
The idea of the bill is to get rid of the sub accounts because they are not being used, money is sitting there year after year, Frischknecht said.
Instead, when extra funds are left over at the end of the year, after they are distributed to the capital and support account, the always-existing marginal balance of $30,000 can be used along with some money from Capital and Support to make an interest-earning endowment, Frischknecht said.
He said earning interest on money we already have helps to “ensure we can do the same amount with students without raising fees.”
“It really changes the standard we manage student money with,” because the endowment will grow annually, he said.
In other business, the council tabled a bill to create two separate bodies of the Executive Council with specific missions. This would entail changing the ASUSU constitution, Steve Kindred, student advocate vice president, said.
Kindred said, “Some members of the council just want to program for the students and others want to represent through student interest and policy.”
With the separation of the council members into two bodies, programmers could more effectively serve students without spending valuable time in legislation procedures, he said.
Kindred said the bill would furthermore “clean up” language and rules in the constitution no longer necessary.
Discussion on the subject will resume next week, Kindred said.