The Illinois Student Senate on Wednesday will vote on whether to ask campus officials to change how often the Illini Media Company fee will be reviewed.
The $1.85-per-semester student fee serves to support The Daily Illini parent company’s general operations. The referendum was originally passed in Spring 2012 and has been in review since.
The resolution, sponsored by senator Jim Maskeri, senior in LAS, amends Maskeri’s initial work with the Illini Media Company fee.
“We want to make sure that the student body has the ability to vote on whether or not to review that (fee) at least every two years,” Maskeri said. “We want the Student Fee Advisory Committee to scrutinize and look at the fee and what it has been used to support in depth at least once every two years as well.”
The Student Fee Advisory Committee met last semester and issued a recommendation that the IMC receive a $1.85 fee per student per semester. The student senate supported a stipulation requiring the IMC to release its budget for public review on a regular basis. Another student senate supported stipulation, imposed by the advisory committee, said for the IMC to receive its fee, two voting students need to be appointed to the Illini Media’s Board of Directors. Illini Media would also be required to display information noting student fees support the company on its website.
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Because a student-initiated fee for a non-University-affiliated unit has never been asked through a referendum or implemented, no procedures on how the specific renewal process of such fee components are set.
Committee members say it is important for the student body to have the ability to regularly and directly re-evaluate its fiscal relationship with bodies that are not directly affiliated with the University, referring to Illini Media.
“The other components of the student-initiated fee are different than the Illini Media Company fee,” Maskeri said. “The Illini Media Company fee is essentially a subsidy for an entity which is not part of the University, whereas the Krannert (Center for Performing Arts) fee goes specifically towards Krannert … We don’t have as much direct control (over the IMC fee) because it is a subsidy for an outside entity.”
ISS will vote on whether to petition the Urbana-Champaign Senate’s Conference on Conduct Governance and the Office of the Chancellor to amend the language of the Student Code under the Illini Media fee. The description will read: “A fee to support the operations of Illini Media, a non-profit company. This fee shall be reviewed by the Student Body via student referendum every two years.”
This resolution would change the initial review via student referendum from four years to two years.
“We want to make sure that the student body has the ability to evaluate how their student fee money is going to be spent, at least in that particular component, more often than the other components because in the other components, there are other avenues for students to influence how their fee money is going to be spent,” Maskeri said. “You don’t have that avenue to influence policy or influence how your student fee money is going to be spent specifically.”
Liz can be reached at [email protected].
Editor’s note: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that the Student Fee Advisory Committee has amended and passed the Illini Media Company fee. The Student Fee Advisory Committee previously recommended to amend a resolution to the Illini Media Company fee. The Daily Illini regrets the error.
