Meeting about fee postponed
Published Feb. 23, 2007
Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Cathy Scroggs did not attend a Missouri Students Association Operations Committee meeting on Tuesday as she had been scheduled to.
Operations Committee Chairman Jonathan Mays said Scroggs was called into a last-minute meeting with Chancellor Brady Deaton, but Mays still wants to find another date for student organizations to bring their questions to Scroggs.
"I was disappointed that Dr. Scroggs couldn't attend the meeting," Mays said. "I hope that we can work together to find another date."
Instead, members of MSA, the Legion of Black Collegians and Four Front spoke briefly about the multicultural fee.
MSA Vice President Andrew Cafourek said the multicultural fee is certain to be implemented.
"This is all going to happen," he said. "It's just what highway we're going to take to get there."
There have been concerns that the Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin v. Southworth case would halt the development of the multicultural fee. The Southworth case made direct allocation of a student fee to an organization illegal.
The multicultural fee, which would amount to $3.19 per student per semester and would benefit minority student organizations, would come from a direct allocation of student fees. Students working on the multicultural fee are trying to find other ways to implement the fee.
Mays said one of the possible solutions would be to hand the multicultural fee over to the Department of Student Life, which would give 45 percent of the fee to the Gaines/Oldham Black Culture Center and 55 percent to the Multicultural Center to allocate to organizations.
Mays said one of this plan's flaws would be the elimination of the Diversity Student Affairs Programming Board, which would provide student oversight over the fund.
"I don't want to sound too paranoid here, but I think there should be a student voice in the process," Mays said.
The Southworth case might also have affected the LBC fee, which is directly allocated.