Senate to review student fee process

Although students are required to pay mandatory fees every year, they have little say in the decision process behind those charges — a fact student leaders are trying to change by bringing the issue up with the University Senate.

Yesterday, the Senate Executive Committee agreed to review a proposal drafted by Student Government Association President Kaiyi Xie and Graduate Student Government President Anna Bedford calling for more student participation and transparency in the mandatory student fee review process. Xie said the current guidelines for the Committee for the Review of Student Fees — the group responsible for reviewing and approving student fees from various departments on the campus — are too vague do not currently require student input. This year, full-time undergraduate students paid $844.65 in student fees, ranging from the University Health Center fee to the Stamp Student Union fee.

"There's ways we think that [the review process] could be more fair," Xie said. "A department should have a standardized way of getting student input before instituting fees itself."

The current policy on the review and approval of student fees outlines a five-step process for student participation but does not explicitly state students must be a part of the review process. Although the review committee has a policy to include student input and advising, it is not enforced and several units — including Athletics, the Health Center and the Nyumburu Cultural Center — can levy fees without giving their affected constituencies a chance to participate, according to the proposal.

Xie and Bedford's proposal calls for an "open and transparent student advisory board that is inclusive of many different constituencies and campus governing bodies that [oversee] the fee proposal" before it reaches the committee.

Since students are currently the minority group on the Committee for the Review of Student Fees — there are six student representatives and seven faculty members — Xie said students do not have enough power in determining which fees should and should not be implemented. This student advisory board, Xie said, would ensure students have a voice throughout the process, instead of once the fees are laid out.

Additionally, Xie and Bedford's proposal asks the committee to keep detailed minutes of each meeting to be made available to the entire university community to increase transparency. The only documents currently kept from meetings are vote tallies, but there is no record of the discussions surrounding instituting each departmental fee.

The proposal will now be sent to the senate Student Affairs Committee, where members will research the current student fees review process and draft recommendations on how to improve the process. The Senate Executive Committee, which accepted the proposal at yesterday's meeting, will ultimately vote on whether to send those recommendations to the full body for a vote.

"It's important for students to understand why they are paying these fees and how they are being reviewed," senate Chair Eric Kasischke said. "You talk to the administration and they have one interpretation of what's going on, and then you talk to students and they bring a different perspective, so the role of the senate is to figure out what exactly is going on and make some recommendations on a review of the situation."

Xie said by having the senate take up the issue, students are one step closer to having more influence over the review process.

"I'm very glad the senate decided to look at [the review process] because it's an issue that doesn't only affect undergraduates, but graduate students as well," Xie said. "I think bringing the senate in is a good battle step in moving this process along."

abutaleb@umdbk.com