Yesterday afternoon, students flooded to voice their opinions at an unscheduled Student Technology Fee Oversight Committee meeting.
The STFOC was unexpectedly forced to convene for the purpose of addressing floods of e-mail and walk-in complaints from students.
“I want to know where all of my fees are going,” said communication disorders sophomore Michael Herbertdeaux. “It’s not like I just click a button when I pay my fee bill and don’t even look at what’s there.”
Herbertdeaux was not the only student paying attention to the STFOC.
Natural resource and ecology management junior Sally Thiboboudreaux said she always pays attention to her University e-mail account and participated in the STFOC’s technology use survey from last semester.
“If people don’t honestly respond to those surveys,” Thiboboudreaux said, “how can the committee actually do their job?”
Herbertdeaux said he keeps up with the STFOC’s meetings online by reading their minutes.
“There’s also a complete list of all of their project approvals online,” Herbertdeaux said. “It really isn’t hard to find out where your money’s going.”
Thiboboudreaux and Herbertdeaux are organizing the Student Technology Fee Appreciation Committee.
Student Government and Information Technology Services do not get enough credit for the help they provide the University community, Thiboboudreaux said.
The STFAC will send the STFOC a giant thank you card, which will be available for all to sign in the Quad tomorrow afternoon.
Thiboboudreaux said they will make the card using software paid for by the STFOC.
“We always want to make sure the committee knows we’re using what they decide to fund,” Thiboboudreaux said.
Herbertdeaux said purchasing his MacBook Pro in January emptied his savings account and made it difficult for him to afford groceries for a while.
“If I’d known about the Gear 2 Geaux program, I wouldn’t have been stressing and I could’ve avoided all that,” Herbertdeaux said.
Herbertdeaux said his experience inspired him and his friends to become more involved with the technology fee allocation process.
“It’s not right to always complain about how the University does things when you don’t even know what’s really going on,” Herbertdeaux said.
“What STF goes through for us is exhilarating,” Thiboboudreaux said, “I’m glad we went to the meeting.”
Student Government STFOC members Thomas Rodgers, Alex Grashof and Trey Schwartzenberg had no comments for the students and will receive the card soon.
“It’s not right to always complain about how the University does things when you don’t even know what’s really going on.”