ASUA will also ask regents to delay housing cap

The Arizona Board of Regents will consider allowing students to vote on a fee increase for the Student Recreation Center at its meeting today at Arizona State University.

The fee would be used to fund new equipment and higher student salaries at the Campus Recreation Center, 1541 E. University Blvd.

If the Regents pass the measure, UA students will be able to vote for or against implementing an additional $3 fee during elections for the Associated Students of the University of Arizona elections on March 6 and 7.

Similar to a vote in 1998, in which students approved a $1 fee for KAMP radio, the fee will only be implemented if students vote to accept it.

Students at the University of Arizona currently pay a $25 fee to the SRC, which helps pay for the building itself, said ASUA President Ray Quintero. The additional $3 would help pay for new equipment and increase salaries for students who work at the recreation center - UA's largest student employer.

ASUA officials have asked the Regents to block a UA policy that would allow students to live in residence halls only during their freshman and sophomore years.

In mid-January, ASUA passed a resolution stating the official position of the student body was to delay implementation of the four-semester cap.

Sophomores living in residence halls have already received notices that they will have to live elsewhere their junior years. UA President Peter Likins, not the Regents, has the option to keep, change or reverse the new policy.

"We want the four-semester rule to be postponed so that students · who are already residing within the residence halls, may live out their stay within the residence halls if they choose to - as they have been led to believe they could by the university," said ASUA Sen. Jered Mansell. "It is a concern of the students, so much so that we're bringing it to the board of regents and saying 'look, this is a problem, and we'd like something done about it.'"

The Regents will decide whether to raise staff and faculty merit pay raises from $100 per month to $200 per month.

The decision comes as the Faculty Senate and UA administrators debate how to divide up raises from the state coming to UA staff and faculty in April. The raises could be either $1,500 across-the-board or 5 percent with a minimum of $1,500 across-the-board.

The Joint Legislative Budget Committee has been looking to eliminate the pay raises to meet a $1 billion state budget deficit in 2003.

The department of journalism and the Media Arts Academic program may move to a new location at the northwest corner of North Park Avenue and East University Boulevard, where University Drug now stands. The two entities would relocate if the Regents approve a plan to allow the university to lease land from the Marshall Foundation. The five-story building, which is scheduled to be constructed by spring 2003 would house the two units.