If you are an undergraduate student at UB, you were required to pay the Student Association $94.75 as part of your tuition this year. Known as the student activity fee, the money allows the SA to provide students with free events such as Fall Fest, Spring Fest, and the Distinguished Speakers Series.
Every two years, a student referendum is held to determine whether undergraduates want the fee to remain mandatory or not. If you haven't voted yet, there is one thing you should do before you leave campus and start studying or drinking.
Go to the Student Union and vote "yes."
Whether you approve of the lineups for Fall Fest and Spring Fest or not, the reality is that we are still being treated to a free concert, and something is better than nothing.
Remember when Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert came to speak here in 2008 and undergraduates got in for free? It never would have happened if not for the student activity fee.
Additionally, the student activity fee makes up a huge portion of the funding that clubs receive, so if you are a part of the rugby team, the College Democrats, the Black Student Union or any other club on campus, it's in your best interest to keep the fee mandatory.
SA also used money from the student activity fee to initially fund 24-hour busing between campuses. As a result, the university's administrators saw that it was a necessary measure and ended up paying for the busing out of their own budget.
If the students vote "no" for the mandatory student activity fee, the continuity on campus would be entirely gone. Clubs and other student organizations would have to start over with their own funding, putting more of a financial burden on their members. Students used to looking forward to Fall Fest and Spring Fest would be sorely disappointed to find out that there are no free concerts anymore.
Even if you are not part of a club and do not attend any of the free concerts or speeches provided by the SA, chances are that you are still benefiting from paying the fee in some way, shape or form. If the students vote "no," everybody loses out on many opportunities.
There is one way in which the referendum should be changed, however. The vote shouldn't be a simple "yes" or "no." It should include other questions, such as "Do you support using the fee to fund free concerts?" and "Do you support using the fee to provide 24-hour busing?"
The SA should also be more transparent with the way it spends the students' money. Whenever a transaction is made, the organization should readily provide that information to the students.
After all, it is the students' money, and officials elected by the students themselves are spending it.
The editorial board urges all students to vote "yes" for the mandatory fee, and we also urge you to get involved with the SA if you are dissatisfied with the way they are using the fee.
