Last week, the Student Government Association passed a bill to increase the student activity fee by $10. The student activity fee funds the SGA, Student Activities Council, all leadership programs and some music and theatre productions. As SGA president Ricky Kirby said, the fee raise was for a very specific purpose: big-ticket entertainment.
“That $10 fee would produce over $200,000,” Kirby said. “Last year’s [Big Sean] concert cost us about $100,000.”
The SGA wants to have two big-ticket events like Big Sean’s concert a year, or one even bigger event. But the funding for both the SGA and the SAC was cut, limiting what the two organizations could do. The extra money generated by the student activity fee would go to a joint committee of SGA and SAC elected student leaders who would then decide how to utilize the funding.
“They would decide the artist, and decide whether or not we’d have two,” Kirby said. “We can even use this fee to bring in major speakers, so if we wanted to bring in a president, a person from Canada [overseas], former senator or something like that then we could use that money.”
Kirby believes that by raising the fee, they would have enough money to give students what they want.
“Students want concerts,” Kirby said. “Any time we go to anything, that’s what students are telling us. This year, our concert will not be on the size of Big Sean because our budgets have been cut so much because of enrollment.”
Part of the reason for the budget cuts, Kirby believes, is due to a drop in enrollment. As much of the University’s funding comes from student tuition, a drop in enrollment means less money to play around with.
“The only way we can pay for that and continue to offer the other events we’re having is if SAC cuts their entire budget to have one concert,” Kirby said. “Or we assess this fee, and SAC continues having their movies, the carnival, the comedians.”
Student tuition won’t be increased to pay for more events, and the extra revenue would be solely used for paying for big-ticket entertainment, as regulated by the committee.
The money that brought the Rick Ross to the University recently did not come from the student activities fee. That money came from the athletic department, and there’s a difference, as Kirby explained.
“That was a community event. Ours would be students-plus-one only,” Kirby said.
Though the SGA passed the bill, the fee won’t be in place until it is approved first by the student body by way of an online survey, then by President Rudd and finally by the Tennessee Board of Regents, who oversee the administrative operations of the U of M. Kirby, however, is hopeful about the bill’s prospects.
“If students say they want it, Dr. Rudd is a very student-friendly president, so I’m confident that he’ll say yes to it.” Kirby said. “He’ll have to send it to the Board of Regents and they’ll have to proof it in their June or July meeting.”
Kirby is also confident that the bill will go through because the TBR allowed MTSU to do the very same thing the year before.
“They let them do it last year,” Kirby said. “It’s the same board. It doesn’t make much sense to let one school of the same size do this, but not the other.”
