Students may soon control the new facilities fee at campuses across the commonwealth, as well as at University Park.
The Council of Commonwealth Student Governments (CCSG) passed a resolution regarding the new fee at its first meeting of the year on Saturday.
The legislation calls for the creation of a Campus Facilities Fee Committee at each Commonwealth Campus. The University Park Undergraduate Association (UPUA) and the Graduate Student Association (GSA) have already approved resolutions to create the Facilities Fee Advisory Committee at University Park.
Each campus' committee will include five students and four administrators and will be chaired by the president of the campus' Student Government Association.
"I'm very pleased with it," CCSG President George Khoury said of the resolution. "The sponsors did a very good job articulating what the students wanted."
Khoury was unable to attend the meeting, as he was diagnosed earlier in the week with a case of whooping cough. Instead, the president was on video conference during the meeting, held at the Penn Stater Conference Center Hotel.
The Campus Facilities Fee Committees will be transparent in their spending through annual reports, according to the resolution.
UPUA's legislation passed last week regarding the Facilities Fee Advisory Committee includes a near identical clause for annual reports.
A notable difference in the proposed Campus Facilities Fee Committee (CFFC) and the proposed Facilities Fee Advisory Committee (FFAC) for University Park is the percentage of the committee that will be students. Whereas the FFAC will have eight students to four administrators, the CFFC will have just five students to four administrators.
Khoury attributed the difference in the makeup of the committees to the smaller size of the Commonwealth Campuses.
"Since everything is done on a much smaller scale, it could be hard to get a ton of students for this committee," he said. "As long as students have the most say, that's what's most important."
Vice President for Student Affairs Damon Sims also introduced himself to the council during Saturday's meeting. Sims fielded questions about the Student Activity Fee Board, the Information Technology fee and building issues.
Khoury said the volume of questions asked showed the students' interest in Sims.
"As time progressed, those questions got deeper and deeper," Khoury said.
