As the University’s financial uncertainty continues, Chancellor Michael Martin introduced the possibility of a new $1,000-per-year “flagship fee” to compensate for the lack of state funding with student dollars.Martin discussed the idea Tuesday at a forum on the University’s finances sponsored by the Faculty Senate. He said the University is justified in charging a higher price because of the quality of education students receive at the state’s flagship university.”If the legislature can’t protect the flagship from further damage, they must give us the capacity to replace state dollars with dollars from students,” Martin said Tuesday.Kevin Cope, Faculty Senate president, said revenue from the proposed fee is something the University needs, but the question is if a fee is the best decision under current economic circumstances.Cope said budgetary decisions from the legislature and governor make it necessary for the University to find other ways to bring in revenue.”We are forced to be almost perversely creative in coming up with these fees,” Cope said.Cope said the fee could be justified because costs to attend the University are “far below those charged by comparable institutions in the SEC and elsewhere.” James Roy, past chairman of the University’s Board of Supervisors, said he would have to do more research to form an opinion on the fee, but some tactic is necessary for the University’s well-being.”Having revenues from the state as the primary source of revenue for higher education is becoming problematic,” Roy said. “While the idea that we will save money through better management is good, that alone won’t come close to sustaining the flagship.”Stuart Watkins, Student Government president, said he is opposed to any “major” fee increase to students but is willing to re-evaluate if academics at the University are endangered.”If the University is put into a situation where the academic core is in jeopardy of losing top-tier status … I’m willing to look into what fees will be implemented and assess them as needed,” Watkins said.Watkins said nothing was formally submitted to SG about the flagship fee, but he looks forward to meeting with the chancellor about it. Watkins’ main concern would be anxiety from students about such a large fee increase.”Lots of students are having to cut corners in order to attend LSU, and I would hope it wouldn’t detract any students from LSU or force students to leave the University,” Watkins said.Parents who pay their child’s tuition will also be affected by the fee.Michelle Bart, theatre senior, said her parents pay her tuition, and they would be unaffected by the increase. But Cope predicts many parents who pay a child’s tuition or students who pay their own tuition will be extremely concerned with the new fee. He recommended people bring concerns about the fee to the state government.”Energy that would normally be directed at protesting the University should be directed at the legislature and governor,” Cope said.Colin Ryan, philosophy senior, said the fee would make the University less accessible to many potential students.”It sounds like a convenient way to justify making students pay for what the state doesn’t have the money for,” Ryan said.Martin said some of the fee may be spent to work on improving the University’s graduate program. But Jordan Lefler, linguistics graduate student, said she is still opposed to the fee, and it could hurt the University’s diversity if lower-income students can’t afford it.”It will cause the University to have more students from the middle and upper class,” Lefler said.- – – -Contact Ryan Buxton at [email protected]