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Report suggests new fee structure
by Jane Owens
The UNL Student Fees Administration Task
Force, in a report released this week, recommended
the reorganization of the UNL student fees structure
and the establishment of a new system for budget
planning.
The task force, charged with studying how budget
requests for student fees should be received,
considered and recommended for approval by the NU
Board of Regents, concluded that the present fee
allocation system has grown "like topsy."
Funds have been allocated according to expressed
needs and then these funds have not been completely
reassessed, the report said.
To help overcome this factor, the task force
suggested changing the term "student fees" to "UNL
program and facilities fees." It also recommended
establishing a UNL Program and Facilities Allocation
Board to "receive and weigh budget requests."
The reports also recommended the board evaluate
individual fee requests each year. No funding would
be renewed automatically, except in cases of bonded
indebtedness. Funds would be allocated on a yearly
basis, which would coincide with UNL's fiscal year
that begins July 1.
The report further recommended that the board
be composed of six faculty or administrative
appointees and five students.
Responsibilities of the board, as outlined in the
task force report, would include:
publicizing the date when requests for UNL
program and facilities fee requests are due.
conducting hearings on budget requests.
-being responsible to the chancellor for final
recommendation for fund allocation.
-being the originating body for fees changes, that
is, raising' or lowering amounts requested by eligible
groups.
Allocation board members would include a Board
of Regents representative, the UNL Chancellor or his
appointee (non-voting member), the comptroller, the
vice chancellor of student affairs or his appointee, a
UNL Faculty Senate appointee from both East and
City Campuses, a student elected from both East and
City Campuses, a student elected from graduate or
professional college, and two students appointed
at-large by ASUN and the Council on Student Life
(CSL).
Faculty appointments would be made by the UNL
Faculty Senate.
According to the report, 1973 would be an
organizational year, with the allocation board using
the time "to set policies and procedures, to design
forms, to analyze administrative costs and to plan the
regular functioning of the council."
' Interviews for election andor appointment to the
allocation board from student organizations would
begin in February. Elections for the first board would
be held in March, with terms of office running until
June 30, 1974. The new budget system would be
scheduled for introduction in early 1974, according
to the report.
Thereafter, new officers tc the board, elected or
appointed in March, would take office on July 1.
Students elected to the board would serve one-year
terms. Faculty Senate and CSL-ASUN appointments
would serve two-year terms.
The task force also suggested that ASUN hold
officer elections in March, using the period until June
30 for new officer internship to "work with present
officers in building the budget for the year in which
the elected officers would be responsible for
budgeted monies." Another alternative, suggested in
the report, would have the ASUN vice-president
succeed to the presidency after a one-year internship
period. After the first year of elections, this would
mean that only a vice-president would be elected.
All student organizations cited in the UNL
Campus Handbook would be funded through the
UNL Student Activities Fund, administered by the
UNL Student Activities Office. All other funds would
be distributed through' regular university channels,
according to the report.
The report also called for the establishment of a
"UNL Program and Facilities Appeal Board" for
organizations requesting additional funding to that
which was granted.
A funding appeal by student groups would be
based on new evidence and presented with a petition
signed by 100 students. This appeal would be
presented to the UNL Student Affairs Office and
then, if warranted, to the chancellor.
The chancellor would initiate the appellate board,
which would hear the case and return its decision to
the allocation board within 20 days, according to the
report. After making a final decision, the board
would present the case and recommended budget to
the chancellor.
The appellate board would not be a standing
committee but a new board would be chosen each
time it was convened by the chancellor, according to
the report.
The chancellor would select appellate board
members from a list of jurors recommended by the
appropriate organization.
The task force also recommends that the
six-member appellate board include: a non-voting
chairman, appointed by the chancellor; a regents
appointee; a faculty member-at-large, appointed by
the UNL Faculty Senate; a professional or graduate
student, appointed by the Graduate Student
Organization; a City Campus student, appointed by
CSL and ASUN and an East Campus student,
appointed by the Colleges of Agriculture and Home
Economics advisory boards.
Task Force recommends yearly budgeting
by H.J. Cummins
Student fees are currently
distributed among nine programs each
semester. Although the breakdown is
approved yearly by the regents, the
nine are guaranteed an established
proportion of the fees.
That is what makes the Nebraska
Union, the Student Health Center and
the Daily Nebraskan possible,
according to the individuals in charge
of each" program.
The established fees prevent new
programs from getting a fair chance at
a portion, the Student Fees
Administrative Task Force report said.
And they are the reason for the
proposed UNL Program and Facilities
Allocation Board, the report added.
"There is no mechanism available
to have access to student fees," the
report said.
The eight-member task force
recommended that all UNL groups
start each year at a "zero-based
program budget." That assumes no
student-fee support until the
Allocations Board grants it to them.
The nine fee-supported programs
would vie equally with any UNL group
seeking support. The Allocations
Board would determine the priority
rank of each group's request.
Staff problem
X -
S.I. Fuenning, medical director of University Health Services.
Samuel Fuenning, medical director
of the University Health Services, said
that under such a budget procedure,
the health center would be better off
as a private clinic.
Fuenning said about 60 per cent of
the center's budget is student fee
money.
"I don't think it would be possible
to secure staff at all," he said. "And
we make quite an investment in highly
technical equipment We just can't run
on a year-to-year basis.
"There's no program in the United
States that operates on a zero-based
budget," he said.
A preventative health program
would disappear if the health center
became a private clinic, Fuenning said.
Budget scrutiny
The task force also recommended
that all fee-supported programs bank
with the Student Activities Fund
which operates out of the Student
Activities Office.
Fuenning said he's not familiar with
the fund since the health center now
operates through the larger University
budgeting department.
"I'm satisfied with the current
arrangement," he said. "And to shift
from the already established
departments seems to just mean
duplication. Every time you add to the
administration, you just add to the
costs."
ASUN President Bruce Beecher said
he likes the opening of student fees
provided through the allocations
board.
He said he also welcomes putting all
student fee-supported groups "under
the same budgetary scrutiny ASUN
has been subjected to."
But he dislikes the selection
procedure for student board members,
he said.
ASUN plan
Of the five student members, two
will be appointed by ASUN and the
Council on Student Life (CSL). One
would be elected from candidates
screened by ASUN and CSL; one from
candidates screened by the Agriculture
and Home Economic Colleges; and one
from candidates screened by the
Graduate Student Association.
"I don't see the justification in
allowing the UNL Faculty Senate to
appoint their two representatives, but
not ASUN. And the proposal suggests
that ASUN does not represent East
Campus and graduate students. That's
simply not true," Beecher said.
He said he prefers a student fee
Continued on page 12
friday, february 16, 1973
daily nebraskan
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