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NEWS
| October 8, 2003
Student Government
SC measure calls for student fee survey
The full congress will vote on
the resolution adopted Tuesday at its next general body meeting.
By Mindy
Hutchison
Contributor to The Shorthorn
A Student Congress committee on Tuesday adopted a resolution calling
for a study of how effectively student fees are spent.
Congress will vote on these resolutions at its next general body
meeting 6 p.m. Tuesday.
The resolution, written by SC President Josh Warren, would ask the
vice president for student affairs to survey a cross section of
the student population on how much they know about and participate
in programs funded by the fees.
The committee passed the resolution, 5-3.
When departments petition the Student Service Fee Advisory Committee
for money, they often cite internal surveys that yield “a
great response,” Warren said.
An outside survey would provide hard data covering relevant departments
and organizations, he said.
But Warren, speaking after the meeting, said he was not worried
about a particular appropriation.
“It wasn’t any one department I had a concern with,”
he said.
In debate before its passage, committee members discussed the survey’s
feasibility. Some were concerned about the difficulty involved in
surveying a representative sample of the student population. Others
thought the cost might be prohibitive.
The committee’s chairman, liberal arts senator Patrick Harmon,
said he was surprised the resolution was adopted considering the
tone of the debate.
“Everyone likes it in theory, but when it comes to actually
doing it, there are problems,” the public relations junior
said. “We’re working out the kinks.”
Science senator Zane Jobe said the survey would show how to effectively
use and publicize the money. The purpose is to determine how students
benefit from the fees they pay each semester.
“There’s all this stuff — cool things on campus
— people do. But nobody knows about them,” the geology
senior said. “This resolution is saying they’re paying
for the things but you don’t know about it.”
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