Study finds students would support $25 fee

A student activity fee between $25 and $30 will likely appear on the March ASUA elections ballot.

Preliminary survey results released yesterday show that students would support a fee to bring big-name concerts and speakers to campus.

In the survey conducted by an independent marketing group, 84 percent of students supported a $25 fee and 23 percent supported a $50 fee.

Forty-four percent of students said they would want the money to go toward more concerts, while 26 percent wanted more speakers.

The idea for a student activity fee came from the Collaboration Board, which includes representatives from the Associated Students of the University of Arizona, the University Activities Board, the Panhellenic Council, the Interfraternity Council, the Residence Housing Association and the Graduate and Professional Student Council.

ASUA Sen. Nick Bajema, who is on the Collaboration Board, said the idea for the fee came after students told him they wanted more events on campus.

Even though elections are less than one month away, details regarding the structure and amount of the fee have yet to be determined.

Greg Billings, University Activities Board president, said the size of the fee depends on programming and student support expenses.

But Bajema said it's not likely the fee would be higher than $25 to $30 per year.

If a $25 fee were approved, more than $1 million would go into a fund for campus programming that would be overseen by an appropriations board.

The fee would be refundable for students who do not wish to benefit from the activities.

Billings is unsure how the board would be organized or how the money would be allocated.

Bajema said the Collaboration Board has been looking at the structure of fees at other Pacific 10 Conference schools to determine how to set up the board.

One option is to create an allocations board with leaders from different student organizations, along with students who have no affiliation with an organization. The board would choose which events to fund and how much to give, but would not plan events.

An administrator would sit on the board to ensure that the students knew what they were doing, because every year the board members would change, Billings said.

He also said the board would be filled with a diverse population of students.

Examples of activities students expressed interest in include a Dave Matthews Band concert and visits from speakers like former president Bill Clinton and comedian Jerry Seinfeld.

Billings said research was still being done on the costs of such activities.

Because the activities students want would change every year, surveys would need to be continuously given out to the student population in order to get a feel for what was popular, Bajema said.

But Bajema and Billings emphasized that the fee would strictly go to students and not administrators.

Billings said the survey showed that a high percentage of graduate students supported the fee.

The student body must approve the activity fee before the Arizona Board of Regents can vote on it.

If the Collaboration Board does put the fee on the ballot, students will vote on it during the ASUA elections on March 3 and 4.

"The voter turnout is always disconcerting. I'd like to see more, and hopefully this will bring more people to the polls," Bajema said.

He said forums are in the works so students can continue to be surveyed and lean about the fee.