Insufficient voter turnout quells Assembly referendum to raise student fee for club funding

With the end of November also came the end of the voting period for the Rutgers University Student Assembly's referendum regarding a potential student fee hike. On Monday, the Assembly confirmed that it failed to pass because it did not reach its minimum requirement of having 10 percent of the undergraduate student body turnout.

In its statement on Instagram, the Assembly expressed gratitude for individuals who had come out to vote, acknowledged the value of student organizations on campus and stated that it would pursue other options to continue supporting them.

"While this outcome is not what we had hoped for, we are actively exploring alternative avenues to secure funding and sustain student involvement on campus," the statement read. "Protecting the interests of our students and their organizations remains at the core of our mission, and we will continue working tirelessly to uphold this commitment." 

In an interview with The Daily Targum, Assembly President Jack Ramirez, a School of Arts and Sciences senior, echoed the statement's sentiments about assessing other pathways to funding. 

He also contextualized potential barriers to the referendum's passage and expressed appreciation for those who endorsed and supported the referendum, both internal and external to the Assembly.

On barriers to passage, Ramirez said the issue was inherently complex and that a lack of voter awareness and interest in the topic, as well as when the election was scheduled, could have impeded turnout. Ultimately, there appears to be no clear-cut reason for the shortage of votes, but the aforementioned factors can inform campus leaders' decisions moving forward.

Ramirez expressed his admiration and pride for the Assembly's marketing team, Treasurer Sam Meizys, a Rutgers Business School junior, and Allocations Chairman Jai Jhaveri, a Rutgers Business School senior, for taking on these challenges. He thanked the marketing team for running online and offline educational outreach campaigns and Meizys and Jhaveri, two people he referred to as "some of the most brilliant minds at Rutgers University," for making the information more digestible.

"The work they did is not measured by the success of this referendum but measured in the more than 2,000 students who did vote," Ramirez said.

He also expressed his appreciation for groups external to the Assembly, namely the cultural councils which comprise the Latino Student Council, Asian Student Council, United Black Council and Queer Caucus, for their support.

"I think the unity we saw from so many different demographics played an integral part of our campaign and was something that was unique to this referendum," he said. "It shows we're fighting the good fight, and will continue to do so. I said from the beginning this is a ground game, something different than the past referendum … It highlights this crisis and its effects on the student body."