It is election time again at USM. The student senate elections will be held March 15 through 18 on both the Gorham and Portland campuses. This year students will not just be voting in student senators for the 2004-2005 academic year; they will be voting on two ballot questions as well.
First on the ballot is a question asking students if they favor a new $1 fee per year that will fund the cost of biodiesel fuel to run the buses that shuttle students between the Gorham and Portland campuses. Second, students will be asked if they favor an increase in the Student Activity Fee. The proposal to raise the Student Activity Fee is different than similar proposals in the past because it will index the fee so that it moves with inflation, causing the fee to increase by less than 3 percent each year. The proposal will, however, have a larger increase for next year by making up for inflation since 1997. This will be an increase for full time students of six dollars.
“One of the greatest things about this year is that there’s two big issues on the ballot,” said Student Senate Secretary, Sarah Hines. Hines is also on the Student Activity Fee committee, which has been working to make students aware of where their activity fee money is going and how it is used. She expects a larger voter turnout than in recent years because of the multiple questions on the ballot and because the election committee is extending the days and hours of the voting booths. In the past, election tables have only been held for two days, one in Gorham and one in Portland.
Voter turnout has increased in the past when multiple questions have been on the ballot. Two years ago, students were asked if they favored a one-time increase in the Student Activity Fee and if they supported a proposal to dissolve the Student Communications Board, the body that separates the Student Senate from the Free Press and WMPG. 567, or seven percent, voted in the election that Spring. Last year, when there were no questions on the ballot just 207, or 2.5 percent of students, voted. The Student Activity Fee proposal two years ago failed with about two thirds of the students who voted turning it down. This year it looks like their proponents may have a better chance.
“I think it’s a good thing,” said Sophie Belanger, a sophomore Nursing Major.
“Student groups need more money and it will bring more events to campus,” said Senior Communication Major Anthony Pergola. “They should have done it a long time ago.”
Not all students agree though, said Tom Stevenson, a senior Communication major.
“It seems like most of the money is just helping a select few students go on trips,” he said.
The Biodiesel question has generated mixed opinions as well.
“There’s loose ends in it,” said John Marshall, Treasurer of the Student Senate. Another senator, Asher Platts disagrees.
“I think it’s a really good step in the right direction,” he said. “It’s a little more expensive to make, but we don’t have to invade any third world countries to get it.”
If the ballot questions are approved by the student body, they must then be approved by President Pattenaude and then the by the Board of Trustees (BOT) for the University of Maine System. According to Craig Hutchinson, all mandatory fees (fees paid by all students) must be approved by the President and the BOT. The student activity fee is the only fee that must be supported through a campus vote before it can be raised. Any other fee can be raised as long as the student body is made aware of the increase.
Hutchinson expects that if the fees are supported by the student body in this election, they will be approved by the President and the BOT.
“I’ve never known them not to approve it unless there’s a significant lack of support,” he said.
On the Gorham campus, election booths will be held on March 15 and 16 at Bailey Hall and the Brooks Student Center. On the Portland campus, booths will be held on the 17 and 18 in Luther Bonney Hall. USM students can vote once at any location. Graduate students and students of the Lewiston/Auburn Campus do not vote because they do not pay the Student Activity Fee.