Tanner Conley
Staff Writer
The Associated Students of the University of Wyoming (ASUW) provide the first line of defense against any and all unfair fees levied upon students by the University of Wyoming.
Every year near the end of the first semester, various programs around campus will submit their requests for student fees. Student fees are what gives each program their budget to pay employees, cover new positions and run events around campus.
But who is there to make sure that these requests are reasonable and do not provide “undue financial burden” on already burdened students? In short, it is ASUW. The whole process is very diplomatic and has several stages through which the best solution is reached, ASUW Vice President John Houghton said.
“Because students here on UW campus pay their mandatory student fees, we as ASUW, meet with every single group that asks for more mandatory student fee comes and presents to our committee,” Houghton said. “They have to defend why their fee exists, why the increase is happening, why students should have to pay that fee. It always goes back to the students. We ask ‘Is this fee necessary and how will it benefit the student body more so than its doing now?’”
The whole review stage generally begins with the individual meetings with the organizations. From there, ASUW convenes its entire governing body of student senators to debate the pros and cons of each increase.
Once the time for debate has passed, a vote is held, and the popular concept is put into paper to be recommended to the Board of Trustees. The ASUW President has a seat on the Board and represents the opinions of the entire student body when he delivers his recommendation.
This process takes roughly two months to complete and does not always guarantee results.
“ASUW doesn’t have the final say on [whether or not the fees will go up]. But we are certainly taken into consideration when the board is meeting,” Houghton said.
This year, only one program out of eight has asked for an increase in student fees. Consolidated Student Services, which has institutions such as Student Affairs, Wellness Center and the Dean of Students under its umbrella, has asked for more money out of student fees. This money will be used to cover new positions, hire more student-employees and raise the base employee wage.
At this time, ASUW has not yet voted to grant or deny recommendation for this increase. The meeting to do so is Dec. 3 at 7 p.m. in the College of Law.
One such example of mandatory student fee increases that has been voted on was the proposed $2 advising fee.
“There is a new $2 advising fee being proposed that we are not in support of. We did a survey that had almost 2000 student responses, and 83% of students did not want an increase in the advising fee,” Houghton said. “We make sure that when we are at the Board or at the Central Committee, we push that they don’t accept that fee. They are usually very receptive to ASUW feedback.”
To some, ASUW may just be random letters. But to students at the UW, those letters may represent a crucial life line against “undue financial burden.”
