SGA approves new fee increase

Author: Sarah Pickering

The Student Government Association (SGA) voted to increase the student activities fee to $360 for 2007-2008, up from $240 this year at its meeting on Sunday. The 50 percent increase was proposed by the SGA Finance Committee to give student organizations more money and ultimately, more opportunities and capabilities.

The Finance Committee started with a presentation about its job of budgeting, monitoring student accounts, approving requests for money, tracking loans, and much more. The presentation, delivered by Finance Committee Chair Amanda Goodwin '07, included results from a recently conducted survey that asked students where they thought money should be distributed. Of 382 respondents, most indicated their desire for increased funding for clubs, parties and concerts.

This semester, six to eight new clubs have been added to the more than 150 that already exist, according to the Finance Committee. With new clubs came the need for additional funding.

The survey also showed that students wanted smaller and more frequent parties, and concerts that are larger and more exciting, Goodwin said.

The Finance Committee also wants to enlarge its speaker fund next year, to about $20,000. The increased funds will enable the College to invite more major speakers - at least two major speakers every four years, said Goodwin. Some suggested speakers like Barack Obama and Jerry Seinfeld, according to the survey.

First-year senator Vrutika Mody '10 said she believes the process for inviting notable indivduals to campus should be simplified.

"I think what the committee was trying to do was trying to figure out where to put the money for concerts," she said. Mody believes that the number and frequency of concerts can affect attendance.

"Right now you've got SGA doing concerts and you've got MCAB doing concerts and then you've got the Commons doing concertsÖ.if you want outside people to come, it's expensive, so what's the use of having this kind of spread-out system?"

The Finance Committee is also in the process of creating a new website. Asked about the site, SGA president Alex Stanton '07 said that it will "give students a better understanding of how their money is used." The site is part of the of the Finance Committee's goal to be more transparent and better communicate with students.

In addition to increased transparency, the Finance Committee is also focusing on increasing their financial flexibility, according to Stanton. They created three new "flex finds" which will provide money for parties and social life, concerts, and speakers. Stanton said that students will be able to apply for these funds if they have a specific idea about bringing a party, concert or speaker to campus.

The SGA voted unanimously to increase the Student Activities Fee (SAF) from $240 to $360 next year, meaning that overall Student Activities funding will go from $564,000 to $846,000. This amount will increase over the next three years to $490 in 2009.

"Middlebury's Student Activities Fee ranks low compared to our peer institutions," Stanton said. "In the past, the SAF has increased, but it hasn't nearly kept up with inflation or increases in the Comprehensive Fee. The increase to $360 for [next year] will put us in the middle of the pack compared to our peer institutions and ensure that we can fully fund all student organizations." The increase will have to be approved by next year's SGA, though Stanton says "I fully expect that [increase] to happen".

The College's SAF was in the lower one-third among fees at other colleges until this recent adjustment, according to Mody.

"We hadn't increased the SAF in a really long time, and so the increase was pretty much making up for that," Mody said. The SAF has to be increased every so often because of inflation and the addition of new student organizations.

This means, Mody continued, that the College will not have to "scramble for money to bring to people on campus, you can go straight to the Commons and ask for money". The College's social life, student clubs and individuals will benefit from the increase of the SAF as they now have more obtainable funding.