Student Government Association (SGA) Pres. Brooke Dugas painted a bleak picture of ULM. The ULM she described was without the services of the Student Success Center. It had no health center to keep the campus healthy, no Spring Fever, no Nicholas Sparks-like speakers and no student life activities of any kind.
The ULM Dugas described is not the one students know, but it could be the new reality on campus depending on the outcome of the spring elections.
Students will vote in April to reinstitute the $95 Student Success Fee, a fee responsible for paying for most services offered on campus and pays 22 salaries of workers running those facilities.
“If we do not have it, campus life as we know it will cease to exist,” Dugas said. “It is absolutely essential we pass it.”
Dugas said the clear choice for the University would be to cut services or cut academics should the fee fail.
The fee was first approved three years ago to offset expenses after a severe round of budget cuts. This referendum does not change anything that students haven’t already been paying; it just allows the fee to continue.
“The Student Success Fee is more important now than ever,” Dugas said.
Still, some students may not understand the gravity of the fee and will vote against it, thinking their fees are being raised. “From what I’ve seen, students don’t like anything to do with fees,” said Ritchie Conley, a communication graduate student from Jefferson City, Mo.
Conley cited last year’s failed referendum that tried to alter fees to give more money to athletics, the art department and SGA as an example of students being leery of fees. Conley said SGA needs to do a better job of promoting the referendums so students know exactly what they are voting on.
“Most students are not informed and all they see is ‘fee,’ and they say ‘no,’” Conley said. Corlyn Key, a freshman nursing student from New Iberia, agrees with Conley, saying the school tacks on
too many fees that should just be part of tuition.
“A lot of people use the SSC, and it would affect them,” Key said, “but my tuition is already sky high. All these little fees make it look like I’m paying extra.”
Dugas said SGA plans to heavily promote the referendum so students know exactly what the consequences will be if the fee fails.
“It’s in the students’ hands,” Dugas said. “I have faith students will make the right decision.”