By: Conner Williams
Editor-in-Chief

Facing a plethora of funding cuts and a potential $14 increase in the quarterly incidental fee, a group of Western students gathered in the WUC’s Pacific Room to join in on the discussion with the Incidental Fee Committee.

Preliminary decisions have set the fee to increase to $341 per term for the 2016-2017 academic year, nearly 4 percent more than the current year’s fee.

The committee is comprised of students, faculty members, and administrators and has the responsibility of determining the amount of funding that the clubs and organizations at Western receive. They do so by analyzing current budgetary needs for each department and then decide on a fee that each Western student must pay each quarter. Open hearings allow students and members of the Western community to speak directly to the committee about their concerns.

Jacob Higgins, a third year biology major, attended the hearing on Feb. 22 to advocate for the Natural Science Club and to give his thoughts on the fee itself.

“I guess the way to prevent the cuts is to add to the fee,” said Higgins. “But I think that if [the IFC] would explain what [the fee] was and that it benefits every student, people would be willing to understand that it’s not a big deal.”

Higgins said that the funds allow the club to take several students on trips for spring break each year, and he hopes that those trips will continue.

“The club is important to me. We have staff members come and speak to us about a bunch of different subjects, and that helps us learn as well,” he said.

Holli Howard-Carpenter, head coach for Western’s women’s basketball team, said that the current funding makes it difficult for the team when they have to travel for away games.

“We only have 12 on our roster, but we’re only funded to travel 10” […] “We have to fundraise for the remainder of that so that everyone can travel,” Howard-Carpenter said.

Jasmine Miller, a sophomore education major and guard for the women’s basketball team, reiterated the notion that a reduced budget causes complications for athletes on the road.

“When you go to a restaurant you only have $10” Miller said. “Today, like what can you really get for ten dollars? […] You have to fuel yourself to perform right and it’s hard to do that sometimes on the budget that you have.”

Miller then noted that funding for athletics benefits the entire student body, not just the athletes.

“We want to get enrollment up in the school, so that these funds are not as much of an issue,” she said. “If we’re able to go and travel to these tournaments and wear our new gear and look right and represent our school, it’s going to help everybody, not just the girls’ basketball program.”

“We’re here to help everyone, that’s what we want to do,” Miller said.

Lilaah Jones, a third year gerontology major, said that sports teams should have to do more fundraising for themselves rather than receive increased funding from IFC.

“I know that a lot of clubs here are doing fundraising, and I don’t see other sports doing that,” Jones said. “I’m in the WUC a lot, so I see all kinds of clubs tabling and fundraising.”

“As a student, it’s hard to see what sports are doing to raise money for themselves,” Jones said.

Jones then noted that an increase in the fee makes it difficult for students that attend Western because of its relatively cheap price tag.

“I know that as a first generation college student, [Western] is a good choice financially. I don’t want this fee to be a reason that someone can’t afford to go here,” Jones said.

Emmi Collier, a senior exercise science major with a focus in P.E., said that she understands the burden that the committee itself has when deciding on the fee for each year. Collier also throws for Western’s track team.

“They have a really hard decision because they have to take a lot of money from every single student and put it towards programs that benefit that specific student or programs that benefit other students,” Collier said. “I think that’s a really hard job and I give them kudos.”

“I think for right now they have a pretty sufficient process. I really love that they do the open hearings and they actually get the student input because I think that’s a really big deal,” Collier said.

Sam Stageman, a junior forensic chemistry major and representative from the Triangle Alliance, agreed that the open hearings are beneficial for students.

“It’s really nice to hear how each organization is helping out all the different students,” Stageman said. “They’re not just cutting wildly and all that, they’re actually wanting our input and that’s great.”

Currently, preliminary decisions call for a total increase of $67, 997 in the IFC budget from last year, plus an additional $4,777 with enhancements, bringing the total IFC budget for the 2016-2017 academic year to $4,378,474.

Three IFC-funded organizations have currently been approved for enhancement requests. 13 departments are set to receive cuts, three will gain additional funding, and three will remain the same, as per the preliminary decisions.

Contact the author at journaleditor@wou.edu or on Twitter @journalEIC.

Managing Editor Katrina Penaflor contributed to this report.