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NEWS
| October 23, 2003
Tuition and Fees
Committee to see 2,500 signatures
The petition’s author plans
to hold a rally today before the meeting on tuition increases.
By Brad
Rollins and Jessica Smith
The Shorthorn staff
About 2,500 people have signed a petition criticizing an administration-backed
proposal to increase tuition rates. The number is half of the 5,000
signatures its author hoped to gather by today’s Tuition Review
Committee meeting.
Jeni Hall, a political science and broadcast communication sophomore,
said she will present the petition to committee chairman Josh Warren
before the closed meeting in Nedderman Hall.
Hall’s petition targets a proposed $15-per-credit-hour hike
for the spring and an additional $20-per-credit-hour increase for
the fall in most courses. Upper- and graduate-level engineering
and nursing courses would experience additional increases.
Members of the advisory committee are considering several changes
ranging from a rollback of increases for the spring to replacing
rising tuition with fee hikes not subject to mandatory financial
aid set-asides. The committee could complete its work today, Warren
said.
Hall hopes a rally scheduled for 2:45 p.m. on the engineering mall
will put further pressure on the committee to recommend smaller
increases than administrators have requested.
“We’ll have signs that say things like ‘When do
the students come first?’ ” she said.
Protesters will march to the meeting. Hall previously said she would
organize a sit-in on the closed-door meeting but said she had decided
against it. Warren declined to say in which room the meeting would
be held.
A university spokesman said Wednesday that police may be present
at the rally as part of standard procedure.
Despite falling short of the signature goal, Hall said she’s
not disappointed.
“To have gotten 2,500 just between [my roommate and me] is
good,” she said.
Various organizations have gathered signatures at locations including
the Lutheran and Catholic centers, Hall said.
Student Governance Director Jeff Sorensen clarified comments he
made this week about 400 signatures collected by cashiers at The
Market in the University Center. He said on Wednesday he thought
the method may have violated solicitation rules enforced by his
office but acknowledged the committee will decide whether to consider
them.
“The petitions will have whatever weight the committee places
on them,” he said.
Gathering signatures near Pickard Hall on Wednesday, the petition’s
author said she was not worried.
“They can pretend there weren’t 400 signatures, but
they know we have them,” Hall said.
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Tuition Deregulation Data Bank
For more information about tuition deregulation,
visit the Data
Bank.
What's Next
• A rally is scheduled for 2:45 p.m. today on
the engineering mall followed by a march to Nedderman
Hall, where the Tuition Review Committee will meet.
• The review committee will meet behind closed
doors at 3 p.m. to continue deliberating how much
of a tuition increase to recommend to interim President
Charles Sorber.
WEDNESDAY’S
DEVELOPMENTS
The chair of the Tuition Review Committee said the
panel may complete its work today.
Members of the advisory panel have received numbers
and analysis in response to questions from their last
meeting, said committee chairman Josh Warren. The
committee’s first order of business will be
to sift through information provided by Rusty Ward,
interim vice president for business affairs and controller.
Then it will deliberate multiple suggestions for decreasing
or delaying administrators’ proposed increases,
Warren said.
“Not all of them are feasible,” Warren
said. “We’ll have to decide what we can
afford and what students can afford.”
Proposals include delaying the bulk of proposed increases
until summer.
The advisory committee is charged with recommending
how much to increase tuition next semester to interim
President Charles Sorber. Dr. Sorber has until Nov.
1 to make a recommendation to Chancellor Mark Yudof.
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| Jeni
Hall, political science and broadcast communication
sophomore, said she will present the signatures today.
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