A San Diego State advisory committee yesterday unanimously recommended a $160 annual student fee increase that would provide relief to the school's athletics budget and fund two new women's sports teams.
The recommendation now goes to SDSU President Stephen Weber, who is expected to follow the recommendation and implement the fee increase for next fall. The 13-member Campus Fee Advisory Committee includes seven students, plus faculty and staff. It made its choice after Weber chose to hold an “alternative consultation” process instead of a student vote.
As part of that process, presentations and forums were held with various student organizations to gauge their opinion on the proposed increase.
Committee members noted that the feedback from these presentations was “pretty mixed” and “really split.” For example, 10 of 17 student organizations opposed it, including black, Latino and Asian Pacific student groups. A straw poll among those 17 organizations showed 183 opposed to it and 158 in favor, with 82 abstaining.
On the other hand, straw polls from four forums open to all students showed 182 for the increase and 44 against, with 41 abstaining. Combined straw polls, including the open forums, showed 421 in favor and 270 opposed, with 158 abstaining.
The committee's recommendation was based mostly on the latter.
“That's pretty good indication of the students who were educated and who had an opinion,” said James Poet, a member of the committee and the student government president. “In my mind, that's a clear majority.”
The process had drawn criticism from some students and faculty who questioned whether the consultations had reached a representative portion of the nearly 30,000 who would have to pay it.
Under the proposal, the activities fee would jump from $190 to $350 annually.
That would mean about $4.5 million more for athletics. About $1 million of that would fund new women's lacrosse and sand volleyball teams, helping SDSU meet California State University gender-equity guidelines. About $3 million of it would help cover revenue shortfalls in athletics.
Brent Schrotenboer: (619) 293-1368; brent.schrotenboer@uniontrib.com
