The Arizona Board of Regents voted Thursday to make the Arizona Students Association’s $2 fee an opt-in contribution option for students.
After postponing a final decision in the November ABOR meeting, the regents unanimously approved a proposal to make the controversial $2 fee optional for students; all university students will now need to actively choose to contribute.
Part of the proposal involved changing the terminology from fee to contribution in order to emphasize students’ choice.
USGD President Joseph Grossman, who resigned from ASA in September, said the regents didn’t take enough action.
“I think the opt-in is a good step forward, but not enough,” Grossman said. “I’d ideally want to see no 501c4 be able to use university funding.”
A 501c4 is a nonprofit organization that can be politically active. Grossman openly opposed ASA’s funding of the Proposition 204 campaign during this year’s election.
Grossman said it should be considered special treatment to allow ASA onto the universities’ tuition billings.
“In theory, you’re allowing any organization to request to be on the billing statement,” Grossman said. “Why not treat everyone else like we treat ASA?”
Board of Regents Chair Rick Myers said the decision to allow ASA to continue collecting funds through universities was made while keeping their long history in mind.
“I know there have been a lot of discussions in the past about the appropriateness (of collecting money through universities), and I think this is a recognition of a special relationship that’s existed for 40 years, and certainly the value the regents place on the students,” Myers said.
ASA board member and ASU Graduate Student Government President Rhian Stotts said she was disappointed by the regents’ decision.
Stotts said the loss in funding would lead to staff cuts and an increased need for more outreach and less action.
“A lot of students pay their tuition before the first day of school,” Stotts said. “They have to make the decision before we make any contact with them. Outreach has always been a priority. Now we need to reach the incoming students prior to when they get to the university.”
Grossman said ASA still has an advantage over most nonprofit organizations by being an option for student funding on tuition billings, and the change should not stop the organization from fully functioning.
“I don’t want us to have to choose between student outreach and actually working for students,” Stotts said. “We should be able to have an on-campus team and another team that does the work we say we do for students.”
The specifics of what an opt-in fee will look like have yet to be determined.
Myers said the Board now has a direction and can begin working out details.
“There’s been some outreach between those in ASA and regents wondering what an opt-in fee would look like,” Stotts said. “Now it has passed, and my only hope is that we’re involved in the conversation.”
Grossman said the change would force ASA to be transparent and “do a good job.”
Myers similarly said the approved change would make ASA prove their worth.
“I think this is the student governments and ASA showing value to the students and advertising themselves and why they’re important, so that students, when they get their bill, would think ‘I want to make sure I remember to check that off and send two extra dollars.’”
Grossman said he wanted to see the Arizona universities now come together to figure the student advocacy issues ASA had been focusing on.
“At the end of the day we’re all student leaders and we are all trying to achieve the same thing,” Grossman said. “We need to get together, be mature and figure this out.”
Contact the reporter at kevin.p.fallon@asu.edu
