All three Student Government presidential candidates have at least one common goal: changing the Student Required Fee Committee. Each candidate wants to bring more student input to the fee increase process. One candidate said he will completely eradicate the committee, and two candidates said they want to reform it. Presidential candidate Taylor Craft, history sophomore, said he wants to work with the administration to abolish the committee. He said if the administration disagrees, he will reform the committee. And he believes the majority of the student body thinks the same way. If abolished, he said, SG will hold open forums multiple times each week to inform students of fee increase proposals. He said the Student Senate will then vote on the fee increase proposal. “If we can’t get rid of it, I want to at least have some multiple step process before it goes to the SRF Committee,” Craft said. If dissolving the committee is not possible, Craft said he will reform it to include 30 members – 20 students and 10 University employees. He said the SG president would continue to chair the reformed committee. Craft also said he agrees with Alsfeld’s decision to have a freshman serve on the committee. “I wouldn’t have a problem with freshman serving on the committee,” he said. “I would prefer a freshman rather than a senior.” But Craft said one reason he opposes the committee is because it lacks student attendance. Craft has never attended an SRF Committee meeting, though, and said he did not know the meetings were open to the public. “It feels like they are passing fees behind our back,” he said. “I don’t think they are doing a very good job of advertising these meetings to the public.” Presidential candidate Dixon McMakin, current SG director of athletics, said he does not want to eliminate the fee committee, but he said the current committee must be changed. He said he has not attended an SRF Committee meeting because of classes, but he said the committee does not adequately represent student interests. He said he wants to make the fee increase process more difficult. “We do not feel that the passing of fee resolutions or fee increases should be an accelerated and undemanding process,” he said. “If a department thinks their fees should rise, they should prove it to not just a select group of people, but the entire LSU student body.” McMakin drafted a six-step charter outlining his ticket’s vision of a new committee called the “Student Required Fee Recommendation Committee.” He said the new committee will consist of 12 members with 11 voting members – eight students, two University employees and one external CPA appointed by the Office of the Chancellor. He said the associate vice chancellor of the Office of Budget and Planning will serve as the ex-officio member of the committee. Under this new fee committee, McMakin said the Business College Council president will serve as chairperson, not the SG president. McMakin also said he will not support the appointment of a freshman to the modified committee. “It won’t be easy to get a fee passed anymore,” McMakin said. Presidential candidate and Student Senate Speaker Colorado Robertson said he wants to change the SRF Committee structure to include more students and accomplish its intended purpose. Robertson is an SRF Committee student representative and said he does not know if the SG president should continue chairing the committee. But he said the committee should not be the final voice to recommend a fee to the chancellor. “Unless changes are made to the committee, I will not call a committee meeting at the current state,” Robertson said. Robertson said the committee’s purpose is to make sure the auxiliary services maintain sufficient funds for operation. He said the committee should investigate a department’s finances and present its fee proposal to the student body and Student Senate. Robertson said the committee should not present fees to the Senate that support capital outlay projects. “If there is anything that is added value outside the current budget, it should go before the student body for a vote,” Robertson said. Robertson said the biggest problem he has with the SRF Committee process is most students do not understand the process. “I have faith in the students that if they see these auxiliaries can’t operate, they will see why fee increases are needed,” he said. Robertson said he will not completely rule out the idea of having a freshman serve on the committee.
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