By Jodi Banks, On-line Forty-Niner
April 14, 1997
Once again, students voted against raising the Associated Student Inc. fees.
The fee referendum, which would increase student fees by $5 a semester, was voted down with 1,136 votes.
The no votes were 72.5 percent of the votes in the election, which took place Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.
"Every student pays $17 a semester," said Celine Cordero, A.S.I. vice president. Not all of this money goes directly to student programs she said.
Last fall, the Senate voted to put the referendum on the ballot in order to let the students decide, Cordero said.
A specific stipulation was added to the referendum so that all money generated by this $5 increase would go toward student programs.
Last year, a similar A.S.I. fee increase referendum was voted down.
The senate was trying to increase student fees but there was no stipulation as to where the extra money would go.
Senators thought that this year with the student-programs stipulation the referendum had a chance.
Cordero said that the problem lies in publicity. She said that as soon as students see that A.S.I. is trying to increase fees they get scared.
She said that the A.S.I. takes full responsibility for the lack of publicity in last year's as well as this year's elections.
"Students get scared because they see a fee hike without knowing what it entails," Cordero said.
"I'm sure the issue will come up again because there is always a need for money," she said.
The key to getting it passed is letting the students know what the fees are for, who they are going to benefit and why it is being done she said.
Senator Tyson Chaney said he was "extremely pleased that [the referendum] died."
"I found it impossible to believe that in a $2 million A.S. budget, more money for student activities and programs could not be found," Chaney said.
"We need new priorities not new money," he said.