Fees may increase due to possible end of directory

More than $9,000 in funding to ASUSU may disappear due to the discontinuation of the USU student directory, forcing ASUSU to find that funding somewhere else. The student directory is a resource that lists all the names and e-mail addresses of students currently at the university. The directory brings in more than $9,000 for ASUSU to use, said Nick West, senator for the College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences. ASUSU is discussing cutting the directory because they believe it has become a privacy issue, West said. If ASUSU decides to cut the directory altogether, they will lose all the money and have to make up for it by taking it from the students, he said. “I think we need to utilize the money from the directory as long as possible and not pass this onto the students,” West said. “It’s annoying to deliver the directories, but until the Registrar’s Office won’t give us the information anymore, we should continue to utilize as long as possible.” Tiffany Evans, ASUSU director, said she feels having the directory is a privacy issue, even though students can request not to have their information put into the directory. “People could get the directory and scan it in and then use it to spam,” Evans said. “What if someone decides they don’t want to be in the directory, but what if it is already out there and printed?” Evans said she feels that not only is the directory a privacy issue, but also that the directory is not serving the needs of the students. “This a resource that is not meeting the needs of the student,” Evans said. “It is not longer doing the students a service.” West said he feels the opposite about the directory. Even if students aren’t using the directory, he said he feels making a directory is better than charging the students more fees. “Not charging the students $9,000 in student fees is doing the students a huge service,” West said. “It doesn’t matter if they aren’t using it as a phone book, it is saving them money.” Evans said she wished ASUSU could view discontinuing the directory without considering the money attached to it would be lost. “If money wasn’t attached to the directory, the opinions about keeping the directory wouldn’t be the same,” Evans said. Edward Norton, business senator, said he feels it is not a good idea to create reasons to raise student fees. “Why raise the fees when we don’t have to?” Norton said. “If we have the $9,000, why are we getting rid of it?” Lisa Rose, agriculture senator, said she feels privacy is not actually an issue with the directory and since it is bringing in money, she’d rather not get rid of it. “Until privacy really becomes an issue, until there is more proof, it is not an issue,” Rose said. West said he thinks cutting the directory will do more harm than good and it is the job of ASUSU to help protect the students. “If we don’t get this money, we are going to have to make it up somewhere else,” West said. “They are going to have to add to the student fees to make up for this. We need to use the money we have instead of creating more things to pass on that responsibility to the students.” -debrajoy.h@aggiemail.usu.edu