Marquette Student Government passed a resolution that will add a Student Activity Fee Referendum to the March 26 student government election ballot.
Senator Cameron Vrana, a freshman in the College of Business Administration, said the question to be featured on the ballot will give students information about the student activity fee and ask how they perceive it.
The question will read:
“All full-time undergraduate students pay $30 per semester in the form of a Student Activity Fee. This revenue makes up the MUSG budget and funds Student Organizational Funding, which is a process by which student organizations and club sports can apply to receive funding for events and initiatives, as well as free, on-campus programing, and off campus excursions. This fee has not changed in twelve years.
In your opinion, is the current student activity fee sufficient or insufficient to meet the needs of MUSG and other student organizations?
- Sufficient
- Insufficient
- I don’t know”
Vrana said he received help with the question from other senators and the Office of Institutional Research and Analysis. Senator Thomas Schick, a senior in the College of Arts & Sciences, said it was important the question wasn’t biased, influencing students to vote one way or another.
“There were a lot of concerns from the university administration as well as us, that we wouldn’t want to favor one way over another.” Schick said. “What we hope this does is it will allow (students) to answer this question in a way that will give us beneficial feedback, which is the main goal.”
Vrana said he wanted to emphasize that the referendum will not decide whether or not to raise or lower the activity fee. It will to obtain student feedback.
Also passed at the MUSG meeting was a resolution to allocate $10,000 from the reserve fund to cover the cost of sending students and an advisor to the National Jesuit School Leadership Conference.
MUSG President Kyle Whelton, a senior in the College of Arts & Sciences, said MUSG sponsored that item last year as well. He said that last year the money was allocated from unanticipated student revenue, not the reserve fund. In the MUSG constitution it explains the reserve fund cannot be used to fund recurring events.
The senate also voted to pass a recommendation to recognize Marquette as a Fair Trade University and to “strive towards creating equitable and sustainable economic partnerships,” the recommendation read.
