Senate
approves student fee increase options
By
Joseph Serna
Online Forty-Niner
Assistant City Editor
In their longest meeting yet this semester, the Associated Students Senate
debated and approved the ASI fee increase options to be presented to students
at the spring elections March 27-29.
The main points of debate were how many options to give students and whether
or not to include a clause requiring the ASI fee to be annually adjusted based
on the average inflation over the previous three years, according to the Consumer
Price Index (CPI) – All
Urban Consumers for Los Angeles, Riverside, and Orange County.
ASI Executive Director Richard Haller said the corporation has lost over 40
percent of its purchasing power because the $44 ASI fee hasn’t been increased
in 15 years.
However, according to an article in the Daily Forty-Niner, “Tuition and
fees support CSULB organizations, activities and programs,” Sept. 4,
2004. Haller said ASI approved the Beach Pride Referendum in 2000. The referendum
implemented a $21 increase in ASI fees.
The loss in purchasing power is a combination of a loss of investments in the
Public Employee Retirement System, a twice-raised minimum wage in California
and the rate of inflation.
An annual CPI adjustment of ASI fees would secure ASI’s purchasing power
with respect to the rate of inflation, making $44 in 1991 worth the same in
2006 and beyond.
Following more than two hours of debate, questions and clarifications among
the senators and faculty advisers, the resolution requesting a fee increase
for ASI has these options: A $5 per semester/$4 summer session ASI fee increase
($14 per academic year); a $4 per semester/$3 summer session ASI fee increase
($11 per academic year) with an annual fee adjustment based on the CPI index
over the last three years; and a $3 per semester/$2 summer session ASI fee
increase ($8 per academic year) with the indexing adjustment; and a not in
favor of a fee increase option.
Haller said a $5 per semester and $4 summer session fee increase alone would
secure ASI’s finances for a maximum of five years – after that
time frame he would have to return to the Senate to request another student
fee increase.
Passing even the $3 per semester and $2 summer session fee increase with the
attached index adjustment would keep ASI from needing more money in the long
term, Haller said.
He also emphasized that the annual CPI adjustment only secures ASI’s
current spending power. Any ASI expansion would incur additional funding, something
indexing cannot provide.
The Senate passed the resolution after Haller gave a presentation showing why
ASI needs the funding increase, how they got to that point and the alternative
options to putting something on the referendum.
The other options, which were described as “short term solutions,” included
the continual redistribution of revenue and funding, the reduction of athletic
scholarships to the bare minimum, a merging of the student fund and general
fund of ASI, and eliminating a proposed compensation increase for full-time
ASI employees.
Sen. Mike Emenhiser, College of the Business, pointed out that in keeping true
with the Senate’s purpose to maintain the student body’s best interests,
cutting an increase in compensation for full-time employees was the option
staying most true to the Senate’s mission.
The Senate also passed a resolution, which permits run-off voting for future
elections.
In other business, after being sent down to the Documents and Bylaws Committee
two weeks ago, the Senate passed a polished version of is “resolution
for condemnation of hate speech against Muslims in the media.”
The Senate’s passage resolves to condemn the cartoons portraying the
Prophet Muhammad published in the Danish media months ago, and sends a copy
of the resolution to the Danish embassy which also calls for that government
condemnation to “explicitly condemn hateful speech, slander and unwarranted
stereotyping in is major media outlets,” according to the document.
The Senate also delayed two resolutions regarding the Puvungna burial grounds
until next week’s meeting.
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