Time and time again, most recently in last Thursday’s Student Senate election, Ohio University students have expressed their disdain of Budget Planning Council’s behind-closed-doors approach to discussing the university’s finances. But it may give more consideration to student opinions than most believe.
A report issued last month by the OU General Fee Student Advisory Committee, made up of eight students, one graduate student, and one employee delegate, was discussed by BPC at its May 11 meeting while it tried to develop next year’s budget.
“We looked at what the students had recommended in terms of General Fee increases,” said John Day, associate provost for academic budget and planning. “We basically are going to try and do a few investments but the reality is we won’t be able to do a large number of those because of having to build in the health care and raise increases and all the other pieces.”
The General Fee funds four different units at the university: the Division of Student Affairs, Intercollegiate Athletics, the Marching 110 and a General Fee discount for graduate students referred to as the Graduate Student Buy Down.
“I think the perspective most of us had was, ‘What touches the most students?’ ” Student Senate President-elect Zach George said. “I definitely saw Student Affairs as my number one because it touches all students on campus.”
George is a junior studying finance and served as the Student Affairs representative on the committee.
The committee recommended five investments using General Fee money in rank of order of importance.
First, it said it wished to allocate $43,500 to maintain current work hours for student employees in Campus Recreation and Event Services.
Second, the committee asked for a $86,362 yearly investment for four years to replace the instruments of the Marching 110.
Third, the report noted that at the time of issue, the university had not obtained all funding necessary for the construction of the new multipurpose center. It recommended that $145,000 of the General Fee be invested in supporting the center. However, there are stipulations to that money being spent, Student Senate President Kyle Triplett said.
“We said (funding the multipurpose center) would be a potential possibility, but if any money from the General Fee were used for the building, we want to see a track in the facility,” Triplett said, noting that most students he had spoken with were in support of a track inside the building.
Fourth, the committee requested $40,000–$60,000 to continue the Bobcat Readership Program. The program brought free issues of The New York Times and USA Today to campus for four weeks during Winter Quarter of this year.
Finally, the committee recommended that $85,000 be allocated for extra staffing after the merger of the Amanda J. Cunningham Leadership Center and Career Services.
The committee, chaired by Triplett, included Student Senate representatives and delegates from the sophomore, junior and senior classes. David Horton, assistant professor of higher education and student affairs, served as the employee delegate.
“Our main goal was to truly bring a student perspective to how the General Fee is spent,” George said.
The report was submitted to President Roderick McDavis and BPC, who will make final decisions on the budget.
“All these investments are being reviewed, and we have far more investments than can ever be funded, so the exercise now is to get down to the few that we will be able to build into the budget this year,” Day said.
bv111010@ohiou.edu
