CCSG talks of fee hikes at other campuses


Monday, March 23, 1998	CCSG talks of fee hikes at other campuses TIM SWIFT Collegian Staff Writer The Student Activity Fee funds everything from Residence Life movies to the HUB/Paul Robeson Cultural Center expansion -- and it may be ready for an increase. This weekend, members of the Council of Commonwealth Student Governments met for their monthly meeting at the Atherton Hotel, 125 S. Atherton St. Issues facing students such as high food prices and the allocation of the computer fee were discussed, but the major topic of debate was an increase in the current $25 student activity fee.
`Paul Robeson Cultural Center`	CCSG's debate was in response to the February meeting of the University's activity fee committee where an increase in the fee was first proposed. The committee considered maintaining the current fee, increasing it University-wide or increasing it on a campus-by-campus basis. The suggested increase would raise the fee beyond inflationary considerations. "We were there since the fee began," said CCSG President Greg Bednarski. "And I pledge that CCSG will always be involved with the fee." Bednarski said CCSG holds three seats on the activity fee committee, giving it more representation than any other student organization. Council members were able express their concerns about the fee to Vice President for Student Affairs William Asbury, who attended the meeting Saturday said he would support a fee increase. As for its implementation, he said he would support a two-tier system where the individual campuses could choose between two fee rates rather than every campus having different fee amounts. Some members of CCSG thought the fee increase was unnecessary and are struggling to find responsible ways to spend the existing activity fee money. John Baer, Student Government Association president at the York Campus, said his campus has not yet used 40 percent of its 1997-98 activity fee budget.
`Commonwealth Campus Student Government`	However, other University campuses find that the fee enriches student life. "We spend our activity fee to the penny," said Melonie Manning, SGA president at the Abington College. "The fee encourages students to stay longer (at Abington), which strengthens our campus." The size and demographic makeup of different campuses led members of the fee committee to suggest having different increases for different campuses. Danielle Scherer, SGA president at the Shenango Campus, agreed with diversifying the fee. "The purpose of the Commonwealth Campuses is to accommodate the needs of many different types of students," Scherer said.
*"Everyone talks about Penn State as one. If we are going to raise the fee it should be across the board."* - Brendt Stier, SGA president at the Berks-Lehigh Valley College	Other council members, however, said they thought diversifying the fee would create disadvantages for other campuses. "Everyone talks about Penn State as one," said Brendt Stier, SGA president at the Berks-Lehigh Valley College. "If we are going to raise the fee it should be across the board." The fee board will meet April 10 to decide whether to recommend a fee increase to University President Graham Spanier. If a fee increase is recommended, a method of implementation and amount of increase will be discussed at this meeting. Bednarski was excited by the open forum debate and CCSG's meeting with Asbury. Many students voiced strong feelings on this issue, Bednarski said. "Since this is a campus-by-campus issue, I don't think CCSG should take a stance right now," he said.