The March 7 session of the WTAMU Student Senate came away with the passing of SR 21011 in response to the proposed raise of the student athletic fee. The senators chose not to support the proposed fee increase.
Currently, WT students are charged a $240 athletic fee. The student body voted in 2008 to double the fee to support the Buffalo Sports Complex and additions to the Virgil Henson Activities Center. The new fee would add an additional $24 per semester, bringing the athletic fee to $264.
SR 21011 will voice opposition on behalf of the student body to the Board of Regents against raising the fee. A letter will be sent out to members of the Board of Regents and Dr. Patrick O’Brien, the president of WT.
“It would not be as shocking if we hadn’t raised the fee by $120 two years ago,” Casey Hayes, a senior senator and author of SR 21011, said.
Schools similar in size to WT, such as Sam Houston State University and Tarleton University, have an average athletic fee of $160. The Student Government is pushing for greater transparency when it comes to what designated tuition will pay for.
“I was at the debates in which we originally discussed the proposal for the athletic increase,” Kyle Haugh, student body vice president, said. “I do believe there was a lack of budgeting and I don’t believe that designated tuition should go for this at all. I feel that’s a little shady. We were under the impression that this would be fully paid for by the doubling of the athletic fee and that’s not what happened.”
Some feel that SR 21011 is an overreaction to the proposed fee increase.
“If I was on the Board of Regents and if I were to get this [letter], my first question would be ‘how many of you went to the fee hearings and expressed the question when you had the opportunity?’” asked Dr. Don Albrecht, Vice President of Student Affairs.
Albrecht continued to address the fact that he feels Student Senate is losing some of its credibility through this resolution.
“I don’t think anyone [from Student Government] came to ask those questions about the student athletic fee. This ‘promises being made’ is really being overstated and is not accurate. I don’t think any promises were made and [their] credibility is falling quickly when [they] make those kinds of statements, no promises were made,” Albrecht said.
