Assembly leaders weigh in on specifics, implications, how to vote as student fee referendum opens

Friday marked the start of the voting period for the Rutgers University Student Assembly's Fall 2024 ballot on getINVOLVED, which features two referendums with the potential to impact the cost of the student fee students pay per semester, not only for the Spring 2025 semester but also for those that will follow.

The effort, dubbed the "Saving Organizational Funding" referenda, seeks to increase the cost of the student fee by $15. For full-time undergraduate students across all New Brunswick schools, the hike would be approximately 1 percent of the existing fee, which falls between $1,473.50 and $1,476 per semester, depending on the school.

The first referendum asks students for their approval of the one-time increase to the student fee. The second asks whether the students approve of removing the Assembly's constitutional requirement to host a referendum whenever it increases the student fee, so long as the change occurs biannually and does not surpass 2 percent of the $15 increase, as previously reported by The Daily Targum.

Both referenda, as established by the Assembly's constitution, require majority support from at least 10 percent of the undergraduate electorate.

In an interview with the Targum, Assembly President Jack Ramirez and Treasurer Sam Meizys discussed the referenda prior to their opening. During that conversation, Ramirez referred to the passage of the referendum as "fundamental" to the campus' health and notoriety. His administration is advocating for its success.

"It's a crisis at this point," he said. "Our student organizations are soon going to reach their breaking point where they won't be able to operate, where we're going to have to scale back the amount of organizations on campus that are recognized and receive funding from allocations, potentially. We're going to have to reduce the amount of new organizations that come to campus every semester."

Over the course of the interview, the two referred to familiar celebrities, brands and campus organizations to draw students to vote and respond to certain criticisms levied against the referendum. 

Particularly, Ramirez name-dropped J. Cole, Chappell Roan and Kendrick Lamar as celebrity guests that could be invited to campus, while Meizys referred to popular Rutgers traditions such as the Rutgers University Programming Association's (RUPA) Hot Dog Day and Homecoming Bed Races that would be bolstered with the fee increase.

In response to criticisms about the extra costs the fee would impose on the student community, he acknowledged the burden the cost poses for individuals facing financial barriers and likened the exact value of the fee increase to the cost of chain meals, music subscription plans and articles of clothing.

"I know (the $15 charge) is fundamental for our lowest socioeconomic class here on campus, but for many people, it's a Chipotle bowl," Ramirez said. "It's a month and a half of Spotify Premium. These are the things that if we say, 'Okay, I can sacrifice that Chipotle bowl one time — maybe not get it this week, but I'll get it next week, and instead, I'll have a J. Cole concert in October."

He also responded to other criticisms made against the referendum, such as concerns over why the University cannot simply allocate more of the fee to the Assembly and what benefits the bill poses to seniors who may not see as much benefit to programming from the fee increase. 

In response to the first point, Ramirez said the bill is not a novel idea and dates back to his previous term. The administration, while supportive of the fee increase, is not in a position to provide more money to organizations as it navigates other initiatives, such as the 2030 Master Plan.

"We wouldn't be where we are right now without the administration's support," he said. "But financially, they aren't here to support us, and we can't rely on a lifeboat that's not going to be coming — so, we have to eventually start building our own."

In response to the second piece of criticism, Ramirez validated the mixed feelings graduating students may have toward paying a fee, which they may not reap as many benefits from. But he also called on them to remember how the University has provided a community for them over the years and to leave the campus better than when they came to it.

As an additional precursor to the election period, the Assembly conducted a town hall to present information and data about the referendum and invite student leaders to engage in discussion about the referendum. 

Ramirez, Meizys and Assembly Allocations Board Chair Jai Jhaveri led these conversations, largely addressing points that echoed Ramirez's points made during his conversation with the Targum.

But the event did shed some light on the exact division of the student fee funds and allowed members of organizations and school governing councils to ask more targeted questions, spanning from equity in funding for cultural organizations to public information campaigns and how individuals and groups can support the referendum.

Regarding the division of the student fee, Jhaveri explained that the fee is first broken into a school fee. The school fee is then split into two further categories: funds that support the dean of a given student's school, and funds that support organizations supported by the Assembly, set at a precise $40.25.

From that $40.25, the Assembly pays out fixed amounts to three types of organizations: class councils, RUPA and intramural sports teams.

Whatever is left from those fixed payouts is further split into funding for the Assembly's Allocations Board and individual school governing councils. Specifically, the Allocations Board receives 20 percent of the remaining fees, while governing councils receive the remaining 80 percent.

The 20 percent held by the Allocations Board is what eventually funds organizations supported by the Assembly, which surpasses 400 in amount. The proposed $15 fee increase would directly funnel into the Allocations Board and be disseminated to those organizations, as well as RUPA.

In an October 24 Assembly meeting, Jhaveri explained that the University's chief financial officer's office approved the bypass of the additional fee.

Responding to concerns about equitable funding, Ramirez assured members of cultural organizations concerned with not receiving fair appeals processes or funding that under his administration, they would be given an equal chance to be heard and funded.

He specified that any previous disparities in either area were simply due to the luck of the draw with the Allocations' lottery system, not intentionally out of malice.

Answering concerns about how the student body would be made aware of the referendum in a neutral way, Ramirez commended members of the Assembly leading the public relations aspect of the referenda for their email blasts and social media posts. He also offered for himself, Meizys and Jhaveri to speak to any organizations interested in learning more directly at their meetings.

In addressing the roles students and organizations play in supporting the referendum, Meizys and Ramirez called on student leaders to encourage others to vote, pass around informational graphics produced by the Assembly about the referendum to those interested in learning more and share a graphic endorsing the referendum on social media

"This is a ground game, everyone," Ramirez said. "Our organizations are really struggling right now, as all of you know, and so, any support, any way, any mechanism to get more people to vote … This University is large, it's decentralized, it's complex, but if there's any group that I think knows how to conquer it, it's student leaders on campus."