COURTNEE CESTA
Managing Editor
On Nov. 11 and 12, Fredonia will hold its mandatory referendum for the campus’ Student Activity Fee.
The referendum, which is a SUNY-wide mandate, is a yes/no vote that allows students to decide whether or not to make the Student Activity Fee voluntary. It will coincide with, but be separate from, the SA executive elections.
Since Fredonia adopted SA in 1963, the mandate has been presented every four years but will now be presented every two. Student Association General Manager Vince Gugino says that in the 19 years he’s been at Fredonia, students have voted the Student Activity Fee mandatory.
“I think it should be mandatory, otherwise there wouldn’t be anything for students to do,” said Katie Cuddahee, a senior sport management major. “Even though we don’t all use the money directly, it affects every student in some way. Groups depend on the money.”
Currently, Fredonia’s fee is $97.75 per student — money that goes toward funding the approximately 170 groups on campus.
“A lot of people don’t realize what the fee goes toward, and they say ‘well I don’t use it. Why should I pay it?’” Gugino said.
Aside from SA groups, the activity fee funds the campus’ bus services, SA attorneys and Fred ASSIST (formerly the Birth Control Information Center), among others. SUNY Potsdam’s fee is $80 for the 60-70 clubs, SUNY Geneseo charges students $100 each for their 40 clubs and SUNY Purchase’s fee is $110 per student for over 40 clubs.
Gugino says that should funding be voted voluntary, SA would take a dangerous hit.
“It definitely would. All the services we provide and all the groups that we fund — they would be in trouble basically, because I’m sure there’d be a huge reduction in the money we collect and then we wouldn’t have enough to pay for all those things,” he said.
Natasha Wright, a freshman who has not yet declared a major, says that she’s looking to save money anywhere she can and is willing to bet many other students are looking to do the same.
“I know I’m not the only one who is already thousands of dollars in debt, so why just add more to that?” Wright said. “It’s a small change, but it’s a change. And if I can save $100 by not paying for something that I know I wouldn’t utilize anyway, then great.”
Clubs may be a big part of the Fredonia campus, but the transportation system alone costs SA $204,438.13 annually.
According to Gugino, the biggest risk in voting the fee optional would come in trying to predict the number of students who would actually volunteer to pay the fee. The Student Association budgets in February for the following academic year, meaning it would all be a guessing game.
“It’s kind of scary to think what would happen. And for budgeting — I have no idea how we would do that,” Gugino said. “If half the students said ‘okay, it’s voluntary, but we’ll pay it,” we would be able to do something. But if only 10 percent choose to pay it, then we would have to operate on our reserves and drastically reduce.”