The Arizona Board of Regents voted Monday to temporarily suspend the Arizona Students’ Association’s $2 fee collected from students each semester until a final decision is made in February.
The regents read a proposed policy change that would make ASA completely self-financed and take the fee away from universities completely. However, Sen. Dennis DeConcini motioned to delay any readings, push a final decision to February and suspend the fee.
ASA will not be able to collect their average $300,000 per semester from Arizona students in the spring, but the organization has saved a substantial reserve to work with during the interim, the regents said.
The universities will still collect and save the $2 fee from students in the spring, but it will be withheld from ASA pending a final decision.
“ASA has made some huge mistakes here, but this has also been a very positive organization,” DeConcini said.
Downtown Student Government President Joseph Grossman, who resigned from the ASA Board of Directors earlier this semester, said the delay won’t change the ultimate decision to make ASA self-financed.
“There’s nothing wrong with how everything was handled,” Grossman said. “I just don’t think it’s going to change anything.”
DeConcini said he delayed the proposed policy change to give time to consider all possible solutions that can benefit ASA and please concerned students.
“I may end up supporting this (policy change), but I have a lot of issues with it that need to be addressed,” DeConcini said.
Brendan Pantilione, Vice President of Policy on the Tempe campus, remains on the ASA Board of Directors and supports the delay of any decision.
“We haven’t given the time to come up with any solid yes or no solutions,” Pantilione said. “I’m really glad they didn’t make a rash decision.”
Pantilione said suspending the fee was a rational vote, while working on reserve funds isn’t ideal.
Student Regent Tyler Bowyer, who voted against the delay and fee suspension, expressed urgency in making a decision, saying ASA can’t function to the same degree without funding during the interim period.
ASA Board Secretary Danielle Bryant said she is OK with the suspension of the fee, with her ultimate goal being that the decision was fair and representative of student opinion.
So far, two funding options have been the center of discussion: an opt-in fee, in which the $2 would likely appear as a check box for students to choose to support; or an opt-out fee, in which the fee would remain as it is now, but would be laid out in a way that makes apparent that the fee is optional and refundable.
Pantilione said an opt-out option is basically how the fee exists already, just with one less “click” to see that the fee is optional. The opt-in fee, while the worst-case scenario for ASA, would ultimately force the organization to get their name out there more, making them stronger, Pantilione said.
ASA’s main concern with the opt-in fee is that the organization would be spending more time campaigning than working to benefit students, Pantilione said.
Grossman said he supports neither opt-in nor opt-out, and would like to see the proposed policy change to make ASA self-financed, making its finances completely separate from the universities, enacted next week at the regents’ December meeting.
“ASA is caught up with winning when we need to stop going for vengeance and start working together,” Grossman said. “Today is distracting us from what we should be doing, which is preparing for the legislative session together.”
ASA representatives brought in over 1,500 statements of support from students at all three state universities, ASA Communications Director Dan Sullivan said. Many students also attended the meeting to show support for ASA.
The decision to suspend the fee and delay final action was approved by the regents in a 7-2 vote.
Contact the reporter at kevin.p.fallon@asu.edu
