Student Senators of ASG vote to pass a bill allowing a line item increase to ASG of $5 for full-time students and $1.50 for part-time students. The increase, along with all other line item adjustments, will go into effect in the 2009-2010 school year./PHOTO BY KELLEN JENKINS
The Associated Student Government approved five bills enacting line item increases and decreases for the 2009-2010 school year at their third meeting of the year last Thursday.
“I just wanted to remind you all of the oath you took before you assumed office,” Sarah Schulte, senior microbial and cellular biology major and ASG vice president, said to the senate floor. “Make sure that voice that you are voicing tonight is the one of your constituents not of your own. I’ve seen you out there talking to them. Make sure that they are the ones that are voting tonight, not yourself.”
The five bills, which will increase student fees for full-time students by a combined total of almost $3, passed with almost no opposition.
At the meeting, the Fiscal Affairs committee decreased the amount of ASG’s proposed increase from $2.50 per part-time student to $1.50 per part time student. The total increase for part-time students next year will be $1.55.
The senate voted to increase ASG’s full-time student fees by $5 for full-time students, making the new total for full-time students $14.15 per student. Todd Fitzsimmons, senior accounting major, chair of the senate operations committee and representative of the school of business, was the only senator to vote against the bill. Fitzsimmons said that his constituents did not support the increase.
“We have only increased $1.65 in 40 years and the number of organizations has increased,” Schulte said. “Our enrollment has increased. The price of everything around us has increased and it’s to the point where we can no longer maintain our status quo. We cannot provide quality services on our current budget. For the past four years, we’ve either barely been at budget, or always gone over.”
Schulte said that most of the increase would benefit the amount of allocations ASG will be able to provide for Recognized Student Organizations with 75 percent of the increase going toward allocations.
“Students I’ve talked to think that this is a valuable increase,” Whitney McGinnis, senior integrated studies major, president pro-tempore and head of the fiscal affairs committee said to the senate floor. “They know that it’s going to back to them somehow, either through Corky’s Cab, through the planners, through the legal service.”
A total of 4 percent of next year’s budget will go directly to ASG’s internal budget, Schulte said. The remaining 21 percent would fund programs that ASG provides, including Corky’s Cab, The Big Event and free legal service to students.
“The students are going to benefit from this increase on a huge level,” said Derek Zietz, representative of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.
Schulte also said that ASG will use part of the funds to bring USA Today to campus next year. The additional paper will be an extra $7,000 per year, for a combined total of $20,000 for both The New York Times and USA Today to be distributed on campus.
“We want to hear what the constituents you have talked to have said,” McGinnis said. “We want to know their opinions. That’s who you are voting for.”
The Center for Early Childhood Education will receive a 50-cent increase for full-time students and a 5-cent increase for part-time students next year. Fitzsimmons was the only senator to vote against the bill.
“The money that we receive from ASG allows us to meet two of our primary purposes,” Keely Persinger, director of the CECE, said to the senate floor. “Our first purpose is to provide quality child care to the ESU and the community. Our second mission is to provide student employment. Without the ASG funding, we would have to increase our rates for everyone. Students would not be able to get the reduced rates.”
The Emporia State Marching Band will receive an increase in student fees for full-time students of $1. Two senators voted against the bill and Caroline Ewing, freshman secondary education major and senator at-large, abstained.
“We are asking for this increase to sustain our current scholarships that we offer for students that join the marching band,” Tracy Freeze, assistant professor of music and director of the Marching Hornets said to the senate floor. “Our funding is a little bit out of date. After nine years of getting what we have from ASG, I think it’s time that we ask for this increase so that we can keep the marching band a healthy organization.”
The Sunflower, ESU’s yearbook, had its funding decreased by $5.90 for full-time students and 45 cents for part time students. Fitzsimmons voted against the bill and Anna Altwies, secondary education major and representative of the teacher’s college, and Michelle McHenry, elementary education major and senator at-large, abstained from voting. Altwies and McHenry are ASG appointed members of the Student Media Board.
The decrease that was recommended in part-time student fees for The Sunflower, Emporia State’s yearbook, was increased by 30 cents. Part-time students will now pay 45 cents in fees toward The Sunflower.
“We found out that the Sunflower has in excess of $74,000 just sitting there,” McGinnis said. “That is student money that is not being used, that is not being used wisely. The yearbook should not be a money-making operation.”
ASG recommended that The Bulletin receive no increase in their student fee funding. Last Monday, the Bulletin withdrew their request for an increase, citing a need for student organizations to remain fiscally responsible. The Fiscal Affairs committee did not recommend that The Bulletin receive an increase.
However, the bill was still voted on and later approved. The amount of student fees toward The Bulletin will stay at $8.10 per full-time student. Altwies and McHenry abstained from voting.
Requests for Allocations from RSOs were due Feb 18. The Fiscal Affairs Committee received over 70 allocation requests, totaling over $240,000.
“We definitely have some work cut out for us between now and next meeting,” McGinnis said. “We will be meeting with all of the RSOs and then we will have to sit down to make the cuts.”
To make things easier and faster, RSOs will be able to update their officer information online through orgsync.com.
“We are going to an online form for Recognized Student Organization registration,” Schulte said. “Hopefully we can have that up and running within the next week. We will be going to that and having all the RSO’s filling that out and will be to that form by the end of this semester so that way we can eliminate a lot of the hassle that we had with lost paperwork or missed deadlines.”
News about the Memorial Union renovations will be presented to some RSOs at their upcoming meetings.
“We are going to try to inform them about what is going on, not necessarily bribe them or persuade them but more or less try to inform them what the importance of the renovation is,” said Aaron Newton, sophomore forensic science major and head of the student rights and special projects committee.
RSOs that are interested in hearing a presentation can contact Newton at anewton@emporia.edu.
“We’re trying to hit the ones that are actually active on campus and interested in making a difference,” Newton said.
Presentations about the Union renovations and about ASG will be made to students who live in the residence halls April 1.
“It’s just a way to get the senators out, talking to students,” said Anna Meyerhoff, senior political science major and ASG representative. “We feel that maybe we haven’t done enough for the freshmen. They live on campus and they should know who we are.”
In addition, ESU’s Day on the Hill has been moved to March 10. Students that are interested in representing ESU while visiting with members of the State legislature can contact Jonathan Krueger, junior political science major and legislative director for ASG, at legisdir@emporia.edu.
Ashley Peaches/The Bulletin
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