A resolution that would set new limitations on campus presidents spending the Associated Students fees on university programs and services was approved by the California State Student Association at Humboldt State University during their Oct. 22 meeting.
The resolution was written by CSUN A.S. President Adam Haverstock and Andrew Janz, A.S. president at CSU Stanislaus.
Janz said the idea for the resolution started because many campuses were concerned that “their campus presidents were using the budgets to pay for things that should be paid for out of the general fund.”
The resolution indicates that the A.S. fee is charged to students in order to operate the programs and services of student government.
The A.S. fee is a charge that CSU students pay when they register for classes to help operate services and programs associated with student government. Students are allowed to opt out of paying the fee.
It also indicates “several CSU campuses have made small allowances in the uses of the (fee) in order to provide additional support to various university and departmental programs.” The small allowances have increased over time and are proving to be major portions of the budget of some CSU campuses.
“A.S. government feels that they don’t have control over the budget. They want to have sovereignty over their own budget,” Haverstock said.
Haverstock and Janz drafted the resolution so that the CSSA doesn’t “condone” the use of the A.S. fee to pay for university or academic programs.
CSUN Provost Harry Hellenbrand said, “I know it is difficult. You have a group of students to fund things, then you have another group who doesn’t want to leave programs in the lurch.”
The resolution shows that “several Associated Student organizations are being forced to pay for portions of the cost to provide public safety.”
Janz first opposed the original resolution Haverstock proposed because it didn’t address the spending of A.S. funds on athletics.
“Intercollegiate athletics is among one of the largest university programs to be partly paid for using A.S. fees,” the resolution indicates.
“We used a different language in writing the new resolution,” Janz said. “We are against a campus president telling us what to do.”
Hellenbrand said, “You might have students who feel different about the resolution than those who wrote it.”
The new resolution states that each A.S. organization can determine how much funding they want to contribute to “public safety, Intercollegiate Athletics, or any other university or departmental program.”
It also indicates that if an A.S. organization chooses to “contribute to the programs that are essentially the responsibility of the university administration,” they have no obligation to keep funding that charity, service, or program.
