A surplus in General Fee dollars at Ohio University has left students with the option of instructing administrators on how to use the dollars that support “non-instructional” activities.
The $822,000 from the 2012-2013 General Fee that had been allocated to support the building of the multipurpose center will instead be put toward student programming or other uses proposed by students, Vice President for Student Affairs Ryan Lombardi said.
Student Senate President Zach George has proposed using some of the money to host a “comedy night” at OU in place of the single spring concert that Senate and the Campus Involvement Center have put on the past two years.
The Campus Involvement Center made the decision to nix the spring concert based on a survey distributed to the student body by senate, which found that 60 percent of students who responded preferred multiple concerts in smaller venues, said Amrit Saini, vice president of Student Senate, in a previous Post article.
Colbie Caillat, Phillip Phillips and Rodney Atkins will perform at the Templeton-Blackburn Alumni Memorial Auditorium during Spring Semester.
George said he proposed the comedy night to appeal to students who might not be interested in the artists that the involvement center has chosen for its spring lineup.
Executive Vice President and Provost Pam Benoit, along with Vice President for Finance and Administration Stephen Golding, received an email from George, who proposed the idea.
“(Benoit) anticipates that conversations about Zach’s proposal with Lombardi and Golding will take place soon,” Ann Fidler, chief of staff for the provost and chief financial officer, said in an email, adding that any allocation of the money would have to be approved by Lombardi, Golding and Benoit.
Despite the proposal for a comedy night, Lombardi has stressed that all student suggestions for how to use the extra General Fee money will be considered.
“The commitment was made by the provost and the vice president for finance and administration that students would be consulted if those dollars would be used on anything else, and that students would be invited to put forward recommendations on anything else they would like it to be used for,” Lombardi said.
To propose an idea, students should contact Lombardi’s office or Student Senate.
dd195710@ohiou.edu
