Beginning next year, students may see an increase in expenses tacked onto their Bursar bills.
The Duke Student Government Executive Board proposed an increase in the student activities fee by $25-from $111 to $136 per semester-to finance student organizations. DSG leaders said the increase would be applied for four semesters, after which the amount would be reevaluated. Students will vote on the measure in a referendum Sept. 15.
"I think that most students on Duke's campus are in some type of group, so they'll see it going towards their organization and hopefully understand," said DSG Executive Vice President Sunny Kantha, a senior.
Currently, the annual student activities fee is split among organizations such as Duke University Union, DSG and class councils. A certain amount is also allocated to campus-wide events such as Last Day of Classes, and the Student Organization Finance Committee-a subsidiary of DSG-budgeted for this year $614,000 from the fee toward funding other student groups. In order for the fee to increase, the proposal must be approved by the DSG Senate and the student body referendum.
DSG executives foresee refusing $60,000 in programming requests because of a shortage of funds, they wrote in a letter addressed to the student body.
But DUU President Chamindra Goonewardene, a senior, said student leaders were not informed of the proposal until Monday-just 14 days prior to the referendum-adding that DSG should have consulted with other student leaders and organizations before making the announcement.
"There is a process that wasn't done and I find that quite a bother," he said. "I understand student organizations need more funding, but the way to approach the problem is to restructure the funding process instead of a random fund increase. SOFC in its finest form is very effective. It's a matter of making that work."
Still, SOFC Chair Sam Halls, a junior, said the proposal for increased fees was propelled by the realization that the programming fund and annual budget were not meeting the demands of student groups.
In addition to providing campus organizations with increased funding, DSG executives said the higher fees will allow for more student programming and new initiatives. Among these proposed services are bus-tracking systems, a low-cost attorney for students and a car rental service.
Kantha estimated that the 10-car service will cost $180,000 and the tracking systems about $80,000.
"I'm hoping students will see that there are lots of great programs that DSG funds," said DSG President Jordan Giordano, a senior. "I hate to increase fees, but in order to keep these programs around, the options are to increase the fee, don't do the programs we want to do or have the school increase the fee itself and we lose control over programming."
He noted that for the past few years, DSG has supplemented student activity fees with a surplus account established approximately six years ago from accumulated funds. The organization withdraws $20,000 to $40,000 from the fund annually.
The Senate approved continuing use of the surplus account at the end of the last academic year, Giordano said. Following discussions over the summer, however, the Board and SOFC decided to forego the usual model and move to increase fees, he said.
If the referendum passes, the raised student activities fee will be enacted for the next academic year. In the meantime, Giordano said there is enough money in the surplus fund for the current year, though he said he was unsure of the exact amount remaining. He added that DSG is also exploring other ways to increase financing.
"The surplus money is running out," Halls said. "This is not only something for the next couple years-it's more sustainable. If we reconfigure things now, it'll help student groups further down the road."
Kantha said DSG has sought support from University administrators, including Vice President for Student Affairs Larry Moneta and Chris Roby, director of the Office of Student Activities and Facilities.
"I only heard that an increase is proposed and fully support it," Moneta wrote in an e-mail.
Former SOFC chair Alex Crable, a senior, said he does not mind the small increase, though he was previously unaware of the new proposal and does not understand the need to supplement the budget with higher fees.
"I tried to avoid any general increases in the student activities fee," he said. "My goal was to find the best use of the money [from the surplus account] and in my opinion, the most legitimate way to spend it was to return it to the student organizations."
Goonewardene said he thinks DSG's proposal is "unique" and is one students could take advantage of, but thinks that students could be getting more for their money if the proposal was thoroughly examined.
Even so, Giordano said he is planning for years to come.
"If we can secure funding for the future, we can secure funding for our current year," he said. "We'll be in a much better situation to handle our current finances... Right now we're having to turn down a lot of events, and partially fund others. I wish we could [grant all fund requests], but we can't. So this is the best option, I think, and I hope that others see that too."
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