Curators discuss student input on fees
Feb. 5, 2008
(Click graphic to enlarge)
Elliot Njus
News Editor
At a meeting of the UM system Board of Curators last week in St. Louis, members of the board expressed concern that student referendums do not accurately represent student opinions.
Curator Warren Erdman raised the issue while the Physical Facilities and Management Services Committee debated whether UM-Kansas City could move forward with plans to design and build a new student center with a budget of $45.5 million.
“I don’t like these student referendums as a way to hide behind moving forward with these projects,” Erdman said.
A student fee to fund the UMKC student center project was approved in a student referendum, but it won by only 39 votes. If curators approve the project’s design, UMKC students would pay $16.75 per credit hour or more than $400 per year for a student taking full-time credits.
“You got roughly 10 percent of your student body that voted, passed by 39 votes, and many of those students won’t be there to pay that fee,” Erdman said.
The curators voted to allow UMKC to move forward with the plans with the direction to seek ways to lower the costs.
This fall, MU students will start paying a $35 per semester student fee toward the new student center on the MU campus. The new student project was approved in a student referendum in 2005. According to a previous Maneater report, 6,036 students voted in the referendum. At the time, MU’s total enrollment was just under 28,000. Also, at the time, the voter turnout was the highest ever recorded at MU, with 20 percent of the student body participating.
The curators gave the MU project final approval in January 2006.
The UMKC student center will need approval from the curators again after UMKC officials present schematics for the center. They will also have to approve the student fee when it goes into effect.
Student representative to the board Tony Luetkemeyer said the UMKC student center fees were much higher compared to the other campuses’ student center fees. But Nikki Krawitz, vice president for Finance and Administration, said this could be attributed to inflation.
UMKC Chancellor Guy Bailey said they’ve considered the student fee increase.
“Our student fees are quite low,” Bailey said. “They’re significantly lower than everyone else’s, and in part because we don’t have such a facility.”
The UMKC student center would also be Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certified. LEED certification, which rates a building on its sustainability, requires elements that could add to the construction cost, Krawitz said.
Walker said the board could examine in the future how the system for determining student opinion could be improve.
“This is something that could be looked toward for the future in terms of how that process might be improved,” Walker said. “What we’re dealing with today is the process that currently exists, and I don’t think it’s for us to unwind it.”
At MU, student referendums are called for by a Missouri Students Association Senate resolution.
“There’s also a provision in our bylaws that if student fees increase beyond a certain percent, it must be approved by student referendum,” MSA Senate Speaker Jonathan Mays said.
Mays said fee increases more than 3 percent above the inflationary rate must be approved in a campus-wide vote.
Mays defended referendums as a measure of student approval.
“I appreciate their (the curators’) interest in the student voice,” Mays said. “It would be helpful for them to specify their standards, and we can try to meet them.”
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