Sage Kiernan-Sherrow | News Editor
Every year, the Incidental Fee Committee is tasked with determining how they are going to allocate funds permitted by student fees, if any changes to the incidental fees need to be made, and which departments will be granted enhancements or have their budgets cut.
Over the past month, the student-run IFC has been debating these aspects while facing a $150,000 deficit reportedly caused by low enrollment, culminating in a final 5.5% cut proposal that drastically affects student resources. Their preliminary decision resulted in a $270,941 cut to base budgets, and only one enhancement was granted — $250 towards Campus Recreation.
“Before we started making preliminary cuts, the IFC members agreed to being apprehensive towards cuts that would put student safety at risk, decrease student wages, interfere with the growth rate of incoming students, and decrease the accessibility of childcare,” said Logan Baker, the Chairperson of the IFC.
However, childcare was one of the top six areas affected by IFC’s preliminary decision — confronted by a 7% in budget cuts — and many other departments are facing cuts which directly correlate to student pay and accessibility to campus resources.
Another impact of the proposed 5.5% cut would be a reduction in student pay — and study space — through the closing of Werner University Center on Saturdays.
The alternative to making these cuts is to raise student’s incidental fees. Two plans are presently being considered to determine what students will be charged per campus credit, but a decision has not yet been reached regarding the projected percentage for that increase. President Rex Fuller has allegedly stated that he will veto any plan to raise the fees past 5%, a declaration that is being challenged by some students, department leaders and IFC members.
Daniel Woolf, an elementary education major and Judicial Administrator of ASWOU stated that President Fuller’s position, “takes power away from the students who should be making that decision” and relayed his observation that “students (at the first preliminary hearing) overwhelmingly stated that they would be willing to pay more for (departmental) services.”
A 5% increase of the current $375 incidental fee would result in an $18.75 increase per student, or $393.75 total.
If President Fuller vetoes the decision, mediations would then ensue.
In the meantime, students passionate about how their fees are being allocated still have the opportunity to advocate for themselves during the next open hearing on Thursday, February 27, from 4-6 p.m. in the Pacific Room located in the Werner University Center.
Contact the author at howlnews@wou.edu
Infographic by Kyle Morden
