Youngstown State is a particularly unique school when it comes to the topic of student activities. By and large, majority of the students on the campus of YSU are not involved in extra-curricular programs and student groups because they are either commuters or simply do not care about joining a student organization. At the same time, you have a small amount of students that really do want to make YSU a better place by providing the funds necessary to create an atmosphere conducive to both learning and socializing apart from daily class work. So, what do you do with this situation? Do you levy this fee for the betterment of a small interest in spite of the majority of people that do not use it? Or do you do this because this is something that will encourage people to join student groups because there is money now available? As I said, the situation is unique.
There is a severe lack of money for student groups. I know this because I used to be the president of the College Republicans at YSU. I can attest to the lack of money available, and I know other heads of student organizations that will say the same thing.
YSU student groups are disadvantaged particularly because there is not a whole lot of money in Mahoning and Trumbull Counties to find outside of SGA. Sure, people will give money to the University, but you would be hard pressed to find anyone that is going to give any kind of significant money to a student group. If you couple that with the fact that there is a lack of students on campus after class making it hard for things like recruitment, holding meetings, and holding events that are both social and academic in nature, then we find ourselves in the situation like we are in at YSU currently.
If this was a normal situation, I would be against this additional fee. Anytime I hear a fee or a tax would be going towards subsidizing a small minority of people in spite of the fact the vast majority of people would not be benefiting, I am always wary.
However, this situation is not normal. With few exceptions, trying to run a successful student group at YSU with a lack of funding is near impossible. I wish that was not the case, but it is the truth. Organizations at universities in Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Akron, Cincinnati, Athens, Kent, and Steubenville all are successful because they readily have some kind of access to funds of some kind, be it from within the university or from the surrounding cities and suburbs. YSU does not have that luxury, and our groups do suffer for it.
The question though that needs to be asked is, if this fee does come to fruition, would this additional money going to student groups further student involvement on campus? To be completely honest, I cannot say with certainty it would given the situation at YSU currently. I would like to think so, but part of me believes this extra money would not make a difference.
That aside, I believe this additional money would provide a means that would encourage more involvement simply because the access to the money is available for students that want to participate in academic related activities or to do events that are academic in nature.
I would like to make sure though that this kind of fee does not go out of control, and that is something I hope SGA would ensure. The only danger with this is future levying of fees on students, and that can be a slippery slope to more fees. Having said that, I would like to see a limitation on levying future fees to a certain dollar amount every so many years. That or subject any subsequent increase in student fees by the SGA to a vote by the student body.
As typical of most government bodies, the more money that is available, the more money that is spent, so naturally I would hope there would be some kind of restriction on any future fees. I think the additional fee will be helpful, but I certainly believe it needs to be restricted in the future.
The Mang
Conservative Capo of Youngstown
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