Face the State Staff Report
The University of Colorado at Boulder has adopted a new "Forever Buffs" fee. The one time $70 charge goes directly to the alumni association and grants all undergraduate students membership status. The move is causing many students, alumni, and critics to cry foul.
The mandatory fee was approved by the CU Board of Regents 8-1, with only Regent Tom Lucero opposed. It will be charged to all undergraduate and transfer students starting this fall, and students cannot opt-out or petition for refunds. It was proposed by former Vice-Chancellor for Student Affairs Ron Stump, who now serves as the alumni association's interim director. He claims the fee was met with a broad base of support.
"We've gotten a lot of support from students and alumni looking to be connected to each other," said Stump. "The idea of membership dues is driving alumni away and we wanted to bring in and connect more alumni and students."
Stump worked with the Student Alumni Advisory Council to lay out specific plans for the fee as a way of garnering student input. Kathleen Majewski, a junior at CU, is chair of the Student Alumni Advisory Council and says even if students object to the fee, it's for their benefit.
"I think that they need to look at the bigger picture," said Majewski. "They may be getting a degree but [through the Alumni Association] they are also getting opportunities for their future. This isn't detrimental to them at all. It can help as they get out into the world."
Not all students agree, however. Nathan Jeffries is a recent CU graduate and expressed no desire to be a member of the association.
"I think that CU wastes way too much money on fees like this one and instead should invest more money and time in the education of its students," said Jeffries. "If they are going to take $70 from each student, they should invest it in making the academic environment better, not a membership fee to an organization that students cannot opt-out of."
CU's student government, the University of Colorado Student Union, unanimously passed a resolution in support of the fee. Although UCSU doesn't collect the fee, its approval was necessary for the proposal to go to the Regents for final passage. According to Tom Higginbotham, a newly elected Tri-Executive, UCSU never questioned what to do if students don't want to pay the fee.
"I guess if students want to get off certain e-mail lists or mailing lists from the alumni association then they could do that individually," said Higginbotham. "But as for opting out of the fee, that wasn't really addressed and it wasn't a question asked by students."
Student fees have increased steadily at CU since 2004. For the 2008-2009 school year, base undergraduate fees and tuition amounted to $7,278 per student. The fees include $20 for Arts and Cultural Enrichment, $116 for an RTD bus pass, which is increasing to $144 dollars for 2009-2010, and $300 annually for capital construction projects, which is also increasing next year to $400. Special interest groups also benefit from fees, including the Coalition Against Sweatshop Apparel, the Student Environmental Action Coalition and Sustainable CU.
CU alum and Independence Institute President Jon Caldara is not a member of the alumni association, and likened the new fee to the way fictional mobster Tony Soprano ran the Italian mafia.
"Really, what a terrible insult this is to the alumni association," said Caldara. "Is this the only way they can get members? To force them to become members for life at an early age? It's more sad than anything else. Let's just say Tony Soprano would be very impressed. CU is now a closed union shop for all students."