By Steve Babcock
A bill calling for a tuition increase of no more than $256 (2 percent) per semester next year was passed overwhelmingly by the Student Government Association Thursday. The bill also included a total of 10 requests that would widely change the shape of academics at the university.
The Sense of the Senate, as such requests to the administration are known, passed 67-2 and represents the first-ever inclusion of students into the university’s annual budget debate.
SGA Vice President for Financial Affairs Michael Benson, who chairs the University Budget Committee that offered the legislation, said the legislation was only the first step in the fight for better academics and lower tuition.
“I’m pleased with what the Senate did,” said Benson. “Now we can follow through and ensure that the will of the student body isn’t ignored.”
Benson and the UBC were granted access to otherwise confidential financial documents by the university in order to draft the resolution.
While increased questioning about the inclusion of all senators into the process characterized last week’s Senate, most senators turned out to be supporters in the end.
“Over the course of the week, a number of members who had concerns, came to me for clarification,” Benson said.
Jarrod Majorly, a special interest senator from the Resident Student Association, said the drafting process should have included all of the senators. He said the bill didn’t “show the need” for most of the requests it made.
He referred to the Faculty Senate’s budget recommendation proposal, which offers cited texts and an outline for the reasoning behind each request.
“The only thing we cite is our constitution,” Majorly said. “We don’t know if adding 10 academic advisors is going to help, so we pass it, but we don’t know the full effects.”
Majorly suggested the UBC make presentations to the Senate to outline the benefit of each policy, or “submit the legislation themselves.”
A chorus of senators said Majorly was being unreasonable, including United Nations Association representative Dan Quintal.
“There are some senators who choose to waste our time,” Quintal said to those who continued to dispute the access policy. “We are never going to see the numbers. We need to trust our peers and pass this legislation to show the university how we feel [about rising tuition rates].”
Benson said Majorly’s issues, with lack of clarification, could have been addressed over the week, when most other senators came to him.
The other dissenting vote came from Senator Nicole Gerritsen of the College of Arts and Sciences. She said it was a “good bill” but did not trust that it would be given much attention from the administration.
“I find it ironic to pass a piece of legislation that requests a tuition raise along with other requests that will cost the university more money,” Gerritsen said, referring to the supposed SGA focus of lowering tuition. “I don’t feel like putting my name on a piece of legislation that will not happen.”
Vice President for Academic Affairs Peter Antonellis, who expressed doubt in his “yes” vote after the meeting, said he voted for the bill because of the message it sends to the university.
“The kind of student that Northeastern wants to bring and retain — the key being retain — is not going to settle for sub-standard education,” he said.
With passage in the Senate, the key points of the resolution will now be used by SGA President Michael Romano and Benson in the budget debate of the Committee on Funding Priorities.
