The votes are in, and the student activities fee is still mandatory for all undergraduate Stony Brook students. Well, at least for the next two years.
Since the 2004-2005 school year, all State University of New York, SUNY, schools have been required to vote every two years on whether their student activities fee will be mandatory or voluntary. This policy set under the SUNY Chancellor’s guidelines, calls for a vote by referendum on the election ballot for Undergraduate Student Government, USG, senators. This year students voted 1343 to 509 to keep the fee mandatory.
This means that until the vote comes up again in 2012, all undergraduate Stony Brook students will be required to pay a fee of $94.25 each semester for student activities. Each student’s fee is deposited into the USG budget, which is then distributed to various clubs and organizations on campus. The USG budget, totaling between $2.7 and $2.8 million a year, also funds the operation of USG, opening weekend activities, and large events on campus.
From March 17 to March 24 voting was open on Solar under the student elections section. Throughout the week, flyers, Facebook groups and press releases were sent out mainly in support of the mandatory vote. The Stony Brook Men’s Rugby Facebook page had a post that said, “vote MANDATORY on the student activities fee so we can ensure rugby continues to get funded.” The USG Vice President of Communications and Public Relations, David Mazza, posted a press release on USG’s website that urged students to support his campaign for a mandatory fee.
“The support of the mandatory vote was popular amongst many clubs because USG funding is imperative to their operation,” said USG Vice President John Kriscenski, 22, a senior double majoring in biology and business management. Kriscenski also said that USG may not have had enough money to function under a system with a voluntary student activities fee.
“Personally everyone here is happy,” Kriscenski said. “That is where our money comes from. It’s the only thing we operate off of.”
Even students who were never politically active on campus took a stand. John Coffaro, 21, a senior double majoring in cinema and cultural studies and business marketing, created a Facebook event to generate support for the mandatory vote. Coffaro, who is president of the volleyball club, vice president of the bowling club and involved in the O’Neil Hall Council, said that the student activities fee has affected him since he was a freshman.
It affects so many people,” Coffaro said. “If you’re not affected by this you’re not participating in the college experience.”
Two years ago another student did something similar but in support of the voluntary vote. Veronica Li, who graduated from Stony Brook with a Bachelors of Science in psychology in 2009, is now enrolled in the medical school at the University of Buffalo. In 2008, Li created a Facebook group to gain support for a voluntary vote on the referendum. She wrote on her page “I don’t remember wanting to attend a place ran by a dictator that sucks money out of my pocket.”
Li who was only involved in campus organizations her freshman year, proposed that the student activities fee be voluntary and that students pay clubs fees as they get involved. She said that at her high school, Bronx Science, this system was very effective.
Though the student activities fee will be mandatory for at least the next two years, there are others that believe the fee should be voluntary. This year 508 people voted that way, and Li believes there are even more who just didn’t take the time to vote.
“If you asked the entire student population if they wanted to pay for student activities, I think you would get a different answer,” Li said. “The problem is there is a lot of apathy and they don’t care to go out and vote.”
Students will have a chance to vote again on the student activities fee referendum but not until 2012. Until then, students will continue to shell out a little less than $200 a year to fund student activities on campus.
