Student Spirit Athletic fee to hit ballot this week

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There was outrage on campus earlier this month after students discovered the Student Government Association (SGA) planned on holding a campus wide vote on a proposed referendum that could result in a fee increase to student’s tuition.
The voting for the “Student Spirit Athletic Fee” will be held Sep. 26 and 27 through the online voting service hosted by the SGA.
The news of the “Student Spirit Athletic Fee” was a surprise to many students. Jansen Nowell, a junior communications major, first heard about the referendum while reading a brief in the Hawkeye. Wanting answers and clarification Nowell took to Facebook and shared a picture of the brief on the widely used “Student to Student @ ULM” Facebook group. From there, the outrage began as students started looking for answers.
“This was presented over our summer senate. We were approached by athletics,” said Joey Walker, SGA President, referring to the first time the proposal was brought to the SGA.
In a meeting with the Hawkeye, Walker, accompanied by Vice President Cindy Ho, clarified the SGA’s role in bringing the “Student Spirit Athletic Fee” forward, saying it wasn’t their idea, but they along with the summer senate approved it to go forward, unanimously.
The summer senate consisted of 12 already elected senators taking summer courses.Walker and Ho didn’t want to discuss the referendum in detail and instead encouraged those curious about the content to go to the SGA website and see it for themselves.
“An official copy of the student referendum is on our student life page, ulm.edu/studentlife or they can visit ULM’s wingspan page at ULM Student Government Association, and there is a copy there that they can read up and follow up on that,” Ho said.
The SGA will host the fee vote alongside the homecoming election. According to Walker, the reason the SGA is running the vote is because they run all campus wide elections.
“SGA is in charge of running all campus elections whether it’s SGA Senate, CAB officer elections, homecoming elections that all is SGA enforced elections,” Walker said.
The referendum lists ULM Spirit Groups, Greek Life, Sound of Today/Technical Fowls, Choral, SGA, CAB, the Ski Team and Intercollegiate Athletics as beneficiaries of the fee.
The fee increase, should it go into effect, will charge students $10 for every credit hour they enroll in up until they reach 15 hours every semester. Summer and Winter sessions will also include this fee. Upon approval, ULM will begin charging students this new fee starting Spring 2019.
According to the official referendum, the select RSOs will not receive more than 15 percent of the funding. The majority, at the very least 85 percent, will go to athletics. Although, this money can’t be used for salaries.
Camile Currier, the vice president for student affairs sees the referendum as something not only beneficial to athletes but to other students as well.
“I think if you look at the referendum you can see that this fee will be for more than just scholarships for athletes; gender equity accommodations, safety and health, academic support and operations,” Currier said.
Many students were outraged at the prospect of an additional fee including Nowell, who himself is a current athlete and former SGA senator.
“My greatest concern with the proposal is that it doesn’t benefit all students. I believe that’s why most feel it is unfair and inconsiderate,” Nowell said.
Abigail Thomas, a senior communications major, supports the fee increase as for her the fee will benefit ULM in the long run.
“I think people get upset that they see the monetary $150, but I’m trying to look into the bigger picture. I feel like they wouldn’t be charging us if it wasn’t going towards something better and to expand ULM,” Thomas said.
The vote on the fee increase is scheduled for this week, Wednesday and Thursday along with Homecoming elections. Despite repeated attempts by the Hawkeye, the Athletic department did not provide comment for this article.