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KANSAN.COM
FOUR YEAR REVIEW: NEWS
5B
It's time to bring this money back to student groups.
Marcus Tetwiler former student body president
original run date:
March 12, 2014
Student body president Marcus Tetwiler, a senior from Paola Kansas, looks over his notes before Call to Order. Student Senate met Wednesday, May 12th in Alderson Auditorium in the Union, culine
File Photo/KANSAN Wednesday May
Full Senate votes to eliminate women's and non-revenue intercollegiate sports fee
► MIKE VERNON
@KansanNews
t's now Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little's decision whether or not to uphold Student Senate's decision to eliminate more than $1 million in student fee money that goes to Kansas Athletics.
In a 55-3 vote, Senate passed a bill Wednesday night to eliminate the $25 semesterly campus fee to offset travel expenses for women and non-revenue sports. Students will pay between $1.2 and $1.3 million to the athletic department in 2014 through the current fee. In 2012, the fee accounted for 1.6 percent of Athletics' revenue.
"It's time to bring this money back to student groups," student body president Marcus Tetwiler said.
Tetwiler said he will sign the bill, sending it to Vice Provost for Student Affairs Tammara Durham. Senate said Durham does not have the power to veto the bill. From there, it goes to Gray-Little's desk. If she vetoes the bill, it will be sent back to Student Senate for amendment.
Kansas Associate Athletics Director Jim Marchiony has stressed how the fee helps KU Athletics comply with federally mandated Title IX standards.
Athletics attended the meeting.
"You think that would make a difference?" Marchiony asked.
No representative from
Marchiony said Athletics will not officially comment until Gray-Little makes the final decision.
Student Senator Patrick Jacquinot defended the fee. Jacquinot served on the Women's and Non-Revenue Intercollegiate Advisory Board, which is a group of students tasked with providing a fiscal recommendation to the overseeing Fee Review Committee.
"I think the fee shows we support our student athletes," Jacquinot said. "The main point for me being
up here is to stress I feel we need to keep a positive relationship between us and our student-athletes and show that the student body supports them."
Senate representatives, including Tetwiler, have questioned the necessity of the fee to Athletics' - a $93.6 million corporation - well being. The fee's original purpose coincided with federal enforcement of Title IX in 1979. It started at $1.50 a semester.
If Gray-Little does not veto the ball, Athletics will
Tetwiler stressed how athletic departments' revenues across the country are "skyrocketing," reducing the need for this fee.
have to find an alternate way to sustain its current level of operation. This includes the possibility of raising the price of a voluntary $150 ticket package students can pay to attend basketball and football games.
On Feb. 20, Marchiony was asked if Athletics will consider raising the fee.
"Everything would be on the table," Marchiony said. We would search in every way possible to raise the money."
On Feb. 17, Kansas Athletics' CFO, Pat Kaufman, was asked the same question, and said they might consider looking at the ticket package.
Director Sheahon Zenger will raise the cost of student tickets.
Tetwiler shot down assumptions that Athletics
Of the four Big 12 schools that have a required student fee and an optional student ticket package, Kansas' cost of $150 is the cheapest by $100.
The fee, officially known as the Women's and Non-Revenue Intercollegiate Sports Fee, helps keep travel equitable for those non-revenue sports. In 2013, Kansas Athletics spent $6,601,009 on total travel expenses.
"Our women's sports teams are going to be great," Tetwiler said. "Our Athletics Department is going to be great without this."