During the recent USG elections, held last week until Dec. 3, a referendum was passed making the Student Activity Fee $100 a semester. This means an increase of $5.75 for each student.
The USG supports the passage of this measure. Its argument is compelling.
“It translates to $80,000 more cash in the bank for Stony Brook Students,” a post on the body’s official website reads. “That means more concerts, more events and more clubs for you. NEW YORK STATE, SUNY AND STONY BROOK UNIVERSITY ADMINISTRATION CANNOT TOUCH THIS MONEY.”
These are all facts, and all important points. But they left out who does have the authority to touch this money: USG itself.
The Student Activity Fee is a vital part of student life on campus. Without it, no club on campus — including The Statesman, which gets part of its budget from USG — would be funded by the university.
The amount it is to be raised by is a paltry $11.50, or roughly the price of ten mozzarella sticks on campus. That money won’t break anyone.
Increasing the Student Activity Fee is fundamentally a good idea for all the reasons that USG has been promoting. It is the most direct way to quickly influence student life. If there is something clubs don’t mind paying, it is a fee that they will eventually see in their own budgets anyway.
But an essential question remains: how much of the reported $80,000 will actually end up back in student clubs?
The note on the USG website clearly states that “more concerts” could be a result of the passage of the increase. But the group in charge of putting on concerts at Stony Brook — the now-USG controlled Student Activities Board — already has a budget of more than $400,000.
How large a chunk of the $80,000 can possibly help put on a solid event and leave enough to benefit all the clubs on campus that are hurting for money?
It is important that USG be responsible with the money that it receives. Last year, nearly $300,000 was left unused by clubs to which USG had allotted money.
Will USG still be willing to give more money to the clubs that actually need it when the clubs that don’t continue to not spend it, or will the senators just pour the majority of the new cash into a major year-ending event?
Clubs and organizations are the factors that improve student life on campus—not one marquee concert per year. The student government should keep that in mind when deciding how it will distribute the added money they are taking from their classmates’ pockets.
—The Editoral Board