The
Student Government Association (SGA) will seek to change the process
for student input on tuition and fees at Appalachian State University
in the coming semester.
“There are campuses in the [University of North Carolina] system
that search out a higher level of student input than Appalachian,”
SGA President Ryan M. Eller said Thursday. “That’s very
disappointing to me. Ever since I’ve been here at Appalachian,
we’ve talked about how much we value student opinion and student
leadership.”
Various student leaders and senators have voiced complaints in the
past few months about university administrators not seeking student
input concerning the proposed athletic fee increase.
Eller said he wants to see a standing university committee on tuition
and fees with a large percentage of students making up the committee.
SGA is currently researching legislation for such a proposal.
The University of North Carolina Board of Governors (BOG) currently
mandates that a university’s process for seeking tuition and
fee changes “include student input.” The process varies
among universities.
“Since the [BOG] policy was created, we’ve been in compliance,
but since then, some campuses have gone a step further than Appalachian
to seek student input,” Eller said. “Tuition and fees
is a student issue; we have to pay them, and I’m not satisfied
with us simply meeting the minimum requirements.”
Vice Chancellor for Student Development Dr. Gregory S. Blimling
said Friday that Appalachian’s process first included talking
with the SGA President and Vice President and various student leaders
before presenting a proposed change to SGA.
“SGA, which represents the students, makes a recommendation
on the matter,” Blimling said. “The issue is also discussed
with the department chairs and sometimes Faculty Senate. The Chancellor
weighs their input, and that information is given to the Board of
Trustees.”
“I think what SGA would like is to be part of the process in
deciding what should be recommended,” Blimling said. “There
are issues related to how programs are funded and to someone who’s
not used to working with the budget it can get pretty complicated.
It’s not as direct as a lot of people think.”
“We’ve been using this process for the last 12-13 years,
and its generally worked very well,” Blimling said. “In
that time, I can think of only two or three times when the students
have really objected to a fee increase.”
“Traditionally SGA has stood out as a voice for the students,
and traditionally, the administration has listened to and acted
upon resolutions from student government,” Eller said. “However,
on tuition and fee issues, we need to make some drastic changes.
Simply going to [SGA] after a decision has already been made can’t
be acceptable because there’s no dialogue on the issues.”
The BOG has formed a committee on tuition and fees to investigate
a policy for the entire UNC system.
“The [BOG] will probably propose some recommended models for
seeking student input, many of which will be committees,” Association
of Student Governments President Jonathan L. Ducote said Thursday.
“Whenever [ASG] has talked though, we’ve been all about
keeping institutions unique, so policies will still vary.”
“The changes that will be made will probably deal with process,”
Eller said. “That is, if any changes will be made at a campus
level, the BOG will ask for a committee to be formed. At Appalachian
I hope this will be a standing committee, and that’s what will
go into [SGA]’s proposal to the chancellor.”
Eller is not taking action on this proposal until the BOG vote on
the tuition policy in their Feb. 13-14 meeting. |
