2008 Woodie Awards
Referendum vote Tuesday will determine mandatory SA fee
Benjamin Pomerance
Issue date: 11/30/07 Section: News
Originally published: 11/29/07 at 6:38 PM EST
Last update: 11/29/07 at 10:32 PM EST
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Imagine a learning center without any tutors.
Imagine a finals week without any free coffee and donuts.
Imagine a campus without the any clubs, organizations, programs and activities that make college life unique.
This could be Plattsburgh State's future.
If PSUC students do not vote to make the college's Student Association (SA) fee mandatory, SA President Kim Garrison fears this future might be coming to town as early as next week.
"The money that students pay for the SA fee is our lifeblood," Garrison said. "If all of the students on this campus suddenly stopped paying it, Plattsburgh State would suddenly become a very different - and much less desirable - place."
Many PSUC students take the SA-sponsored activities for granted, Garrison continued, something she does not mind. The problems, she said, arise only when PSUC pupils take the SA's services and then complain about having to pay for them.
"It's not free," Garrison said. "The things the SA provides, from the SA Shuttle to on-campus child care to the various clubs and activities on this campus, are an integral part of the quality of this campus. Unfortunately, that quality comes with a cost."
That cost, according to Garrison, is often overlooked by everybody but the SA Senators and Vice Presidents who grapple with these often-overwhelming price tags on a daily basis. Nor are these expenditures small or insignificant, Garrison said, listing various figures - $50,000 for campus arts organizations, $10,000 for the popular Plattsburgh Late Nite shows, $3,000 for student tutors in the PSUC Learning Center, $2,500 for campus childcare programs - as proof of the high cost of keeping the campus community alive.
"We have an annual operating budget of $950,000, so everyone thinks we must have it really easy in our office," Garrison said, "but in reality, nothing could be further from the truth. Even though we have a substantial budget on paper, almost every dollar is allocated to some important SA program or plan before the semester even begins."
Imagine a finals week without any free coffee and donuts.
Imagine a campus without the any clubs, organizations, programs and activities that make college life unique.
This could be Plattsburgh State's future.
If PSUC students do not vote to make the college's Student Association (SA) fee mandatory, SA President Kim Garrison fears this future might be coming to town as early as next week.
"The money that students pay for the SA fee is our lifeblood," Garrison said. "If all of the students on this campus suddenly stopped paying it, Plattsburgh State would suddenly become a very different - and much less desirable - place."
Many PSUC students take the SA-sponsored activities for granted, Garrison continued, something she does not mind. The problems, she said, arise only when PSUC pupils take the SA's services and then complain about having to pay for them.
"It's not free," Garrison said. "The things the SA provides, from the SA Shuttle to on-campus child care to the various clubs and activities on this campus, are an integral part of the quality of this campus. Unfortunately, that quality comes with a cost."
That cost, according to Garrison, is often overlooked by everybody but the SA Senators and Vice Presidents who grapple with these often-overwhelming price tags on a daily basis. Nor are these expenditures small or insignificant, Garrison said, listing various figures - $50,000 for campus arts organizations, $10,000 for the popular Plattsburgh Late Nite shows, $3,000 for student tutors in the PSUC Learning Center, $2,500 for campus childcare programs - as proof of the high cost of keeping the campus community alive.
"We have an annual operating budget of $950,000, so everyone thinks we must have it really easy in our office," Garrison said, "but in reality, nothing could be further from the truth. Even though we have a substantial budget on paper, almost every dollar is allocated to some important SA program or plan before the semester even begins."
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