A tense discussion between the Associated Students, Inc.(ASI) senators and President Saúl Jiménez-Sandoval arose at the latest ASI meeting on Wednesday, regarding the proposed $495 student fee increase.
In a recent article published by The Collegian, the known details of where these fees would be allocated on campus were listed.
It includes the improvement of programs such as the Learning Center, the Student Cupboard, The Collegian and the Career Development Center.
In his presentation, Jiménez-Sandoval emphasized that students will indirectly get their approximately $250 per semester back through the payoff of these services, specifically, through the strengthening of athletics.
“I’m going to say something about athletics here, the stronger athletics become, the stronger your degree is, the more recognized it is,” Jiménez-Sandoval said. “You directly get services back. You know that if you go to the cupboard, for example, within a matter of three or four times [that] you go there, you recover the $250 in a flash.”
He also stated that 58% of students would have their fees covered by financial aid.
Danielle Vu made a statement during the public comment section of the meeting regarding this statistic.
“I would like to address how 58% of students will be able to have their student increase covered by financial aid, but I think it is unfair to request that students do not have autonomy over how this financial aid is used,” Vu said. “The whole point of financial aid is to support students in their educational endeavors, and they should have some choice in how these fees are dispensed.”
Adding onto the discussion of numbers, Senator Carlie Hall responded to Jiménez-Sandoval point with a proposition.
“Why do you propose a $495 increase all at once, rather than incrementally increasing student fees,” Hall said. “I feel like $495 by next semester is, like, people are going to start scrambling now.”
To this, Jiménez-Sandoval went back to the payoff of these services.
“We don’t want fees, we don’t want taxes, and I get that,” he said. “So No. 1, these are services that I feel will better the experience at Fresno State for all of the students and will increase graduation rates overall. The second part is that [with] the services that we are offering, you recover the $250 in a pretty significant way.”
Then, the senators began questioning the programs that will be receiving fund increases.
For Senator Rhythm Chadhary, The Collegian was one of the main focuses. The Collegian is slated to receive $11 from the fee, the first increase since 2011.
“The representatives for The Collegian mentioned how the fee increase will help their students and staff wages, and I don’t understand how that helps our student body,” Chadhary said. “I mean, like I mentioned, the articles in The Collegian are not 100% helpful for the students and they’re not, like, the students don’t even read about them.”
Jiménez-Sandoval responded by saying that these issues of student negligence need combatting, then, with two main points.
“What I see in The Collegian is, one, it is a voice of the students that is able to inform the student body on issues that are pertinent or that are pressing to the students,” he said. “Number two, in doing so, they foster a sense of belonging and ownership of Fresno State. Thoroughly, I would add, we need free press. The Collegian is a very strong, clear presence of the free press, not just a presence at [Fresno State] but in the region as well.”
The debate over the freedom of the press has been in high-rise in America, with 73% of Americans believing that freedom of the press is important and 57% of journalists saying that they are concerned about the matter, the Pew Research Center reports.
Senator Chadhary also stated that the Bulldog Express, a program that is included in the list of fund increases, is not in large demand to students. Senator Hall agreed.
“My concern of adding the Bulldog Shuttle, which, like Rhythm expressed, is not a super hot issue for students requesting it, because they were never used to having it,” Hall said.
Hall’s main concern with the Bulldog Express was whether or not parking ticket prices would consequently rise because of the interconnectedness of the system.
Jiménez-Sandoval reassured the senate that this would not be the case.
“What is being proposed right now is that we have the Bulldog Express, but it’s not going to be funded through any other way,” he said. “So, it won’t be funded through parking tickets.”
Senator Ingeborg Kisbye then brought up the issue of prayer rooms on campus with the notion that religious resources are neglected.
“I have been hearing a lot as senator of justice, equity, diversity and inclusion about the fact that there needs to be more prayer rooms on campus, as well as [better] maintained prayer rooms,” Kisbye said. “I don’t agree with the fee increase, but I do want to say that if this is a done deal, that some of that money needs to be going toward more religious faces.”
Senator Adam Garabedian asked for clarification regarding Jiménez-Sandoval’s claim that the money being allocated toward athletics will in turn give the university more flexibility for student resources.
Jiménez-Sandoval replied with an explanation about athletics spending and what it means for class availability.
“Let me be clear with this, I need the athletic component there,” Jiménez-Sandoval said. “If I know that athletics is solid and secure, the money that I would use in order to supplement athletics would be used for more classes. We have cut 500 classes at Fresno State in the last two years because we have had shortfalls of budgets from the state legislature.”
ASI President Faith Van Hoven asked that the organizations who have asked for funding be made available for student viewing.
“I don’t know that I can produce concrete evidence of how people have come to me and said all of this,” he said. “What is on the table, though, is feedback.”
Jiménez-Sandoval emphasized that this fee increase is still very much a proposal, not a fact. This, however, excludes athletics, the Student Cupboard and chemistry tutoring.
“I’m not married to the idea in any way, shape or form,” he said. “So, within this [discussion] then, provide feedback on what is being proposed so we can move together with something that, like you said Senator Hall, we can all live with.”
Jiménez-Sandoval’s time for discussion, which was extended from the allotted 30 minutes to one hour, was then exercised and the meeting persisted as usual.
Senator Hall proceeded to propose a motion that each senator give up their green senator reserved parking spaces.
“Seeing [that] the majority of the senate doesn’t use their parking spaces, I think this would be a good proposal made by the senate to give these spaces back to the students because these would just become regular green spots that any student can use,” Hall said.
The motion was passed unanimously, meaning that, for students, 26 new parking spaces will now be available.
Action item 7.3, presented by Executive Vice President Frederick Lisitsa, concerned whether or not each ASI member’s social media accounts should be passed on with each new person coming into position.
This means that, for example, an in-office senator would give their ASI Instagram account to their replacement once their term ends.
“I think social media has become a very important aspect for student outreach for senators and executives,” Lisitsa said. “Most senators have to start their own accounts from scratch. If this were to be approved today, the way that I’ve written this was that by April 18, that’s when you would be required to give all of your account information to the office manager.”
Lisitsa’s proposal was also passed unanimously and the meeting continued to senate and executive reports.
Vice President of External Affairs Marco Florez reported that state assembly member David Tangipa has signed against the proposed 8% California State University budget cut.
“Over 200 students on behalf of 400,000 CSU students from across 23 CSU campuses from Humboldt to San Diego stood united in the California State Capital, firmly against the 8% CSU budget cut,” Florez said. “I personally met with assembly member David Tangipa on behalf of [California State Student Association] and Fresno State ASI to discuss the budget cut and how we can stand together against this. I am proud to report that assembly member Tangipa has signed against the budget cut in a bipartisan effort to keep the current CSU funding as it is.”
Following the reports, the meeting was adjourned.
Updates will be available through The Collegian as more information is provided regarding the student fee increase and ASI elections.
