SA Votes to Raise Fees

by Justin Lee

In a meeting last night, the Student Association voted to pass a referendum to the SA constitution that will raise their fees. The referendum passed with the necessary 51% vote and will now move on to a general assembly vote, followed by a school-wide vote sometime in November.

The referendum was introduced to generate more revenue for the SA, to be used to fund student organizations. Under the current policy, the SA is only able to generate roughly 1/4th of the funds requested by various organizations. The fee increase will also allow the SA to bring back the collegiate readership program and defray university fees for student orgs.

Fees will not increase for students currently enrolled at GW. Instead, the program will take a few years to go into effect; once in place, the SA will proceed with a 25 cent increase each year for six years.

Although the referendum passed, many senators continue to oppose it. One criticized the referendum for raising revenue without putting in place a more efficient fund allocation system. Another questioned how the fee increases will hold up to inflation.

Proponents of the policy change argued that the point of the referendum was to lay the groundwork for the multi-year increase and said that specific details could be altered in the future. They also stated that future SA members will be able to stop the policy at any time.