Members of the Student Government Association (SGA) met with Northeastern Illinois University President, Dr. Sharon K. Hahs, and top administrators on Tuesday, October 9, 2007, over lunch.
The luncheon marked the “third or fourth” time President Hahs has met with the SGA during her tenure, and her first meeting since being inaugurated on, September 7, 2007, President Hahs told the Independent.
When questioned as to the purpose of the meeting in a telephone interview, President Hahs expressed optimism, telling the Independent, “The purpose was to stay in touch, and to foster communication, and to really meet this years SGA members, it was a sharing of information”
Various issues were raised by the SGA during the meeting, including the CTA U-Pass, tuition increases, Sodexho (food service), and SGA participation in university committees. The majority of the time was spent, however, discussing U-Pass and tuition, according to President Hahs.
As reported in the June 26, 2007 issue of the Independent, “The stumbling block for the U-Pass is that students would not be able to opt out of the fee, as can be done for parking charges. The CTA has said it either will provide the service to all the students or none at all.”
In that same issue, newly elected SGA President, Keenan Arnold, told the Independent that one of the first items on the agenda is to try again to get CTA’s U-Pass on campus.
Subsequently, there has been a lack of progress on the U-Pass issue, despite the efforts of those involved.
A part of the problem, at least according to SGA Keenan Arnold, is poor communications between some members of the university administration and the SGA. In the past, Arnold has said he has enjoyed a good relationship with University President Sharon Hahs, who called him when he won the election. He has expressed an interest in dealing directly with President Hahs in the future.
SGA President Arnold told the Independent that in a meeting last year, with President Hahs, and other administrators, “It was made clear by Dr. Hahs that U-Pass was not a priority, and would not be followed through by the administration, meaning the university, this year or within the near future.” Yet subsequently, according to Arnold, he was told the following:
“Dr. Terrell [Vice President for Student Affairs] told myself, and Senator Paul Harris [Chair, Finance Committee], that in fact if we went ahead with a survey that demonstrated that U-Pass is something students would be willing to pay for; we could have it.” “In fact Sharon Evans [Director Student Activities] can start, you know, drafting a contract with the CTA.”
It is not difficult to understand the frustration expressed by SGA President Arnold, if he understood Dr. Terrell correctly.
The SGA has in fact done its part to demonstrate students’ desire for the U-Pass. The SGA has recently conducted a student survey, and a referendum was held in 2006, both in which the U-Pass question was posed. The results of the referendum were not taken seriously, according to former SGA President, Eron McCormick, due to poor voter turnout. “We had roughly, I believe around 700 students show up to vote, and as a result that wasn’t a mandate to do anything with.” The survey results are pending.
According to Senator Nereida Salas, Vice Chair, Student Welfare Committee,
the survey results have not been fully tabulated, “So far, about two thirds of the students surveyed want the U-Pass,” although she noted that the survey was not scientific.
Vice President for Student Affairs, Melvin C. Terrell, has been contacted by the Independent via email for an interview, and has not responded as of October 14, 2007.
President Hahs indicated to the Independent that while there are obstacles, she hasn’t given up. “Were all still struggling about what to do about U-Pass. I’ve actually met in the office of the director of the CTA–Ron Huberman is his name–trying to pursue this on behalf of Northeastern, and we haven’t been able to find a new mechanism. The mechanism as it is problematic for us.” To her credit, former SGA President, Eron McCormick, said “Dr. Hahs has gone above and beyond the call of duty; she really has shown exceptional leadership in the short time that she’s been President at Northeastern.”
President Hahs maintains that, “To participate in the U-Pass program, our university would have to buy in for every full-time student, whether or not they’d ever use it.” “And the U-Pass is not available for part-time students; you know already, you’re disenfranchising a lot of students.”
The crux of the U-Pass issue is who will pay for it; the university or the students (or a combination thereof). In theory, although the university must pay “up front” for the U-Pass, the cost is actually passed on to the students in the form of fees.
Therein lies the problem, according to Dr. Hahs, “The issue would be whether were going to have other full-time students subsidize those who would take advantage of U-Pass, or whether the university itself should help find funds for this, and this a priority where we should direct funding where we have not directed.”
SGA President Arnold has a firm grip on the scope of the issues, and thus, he believes the university can do better for the students, “The reality is this is a business, and I get that. They [the administration] want to see the feasibility of-the cost effectiveness of getting it done.” “Other universities and colleges, what they do is charge a percentage above that [cost per student] for administrative fees.” SGA President Arnold also noted that those administrative fees could be passed back to the SGA to benefit students.
The SGA and the administration did appear to make some ground in the area of tuition increases. “The only thing that there might have been, sort of, an agreement on was as we currently process the request for tuition increases, were going to work to include student government on the early end of a discussion,” President Hahs told the Independent.
Finally, a lack of SGA representation on university committees that impact students was briefly discussed at the meeting. Senator Salas laments the fact that the SGA has not received a list of committees from the administration, as promised, telling the Independent, that the list has been promised at least twice, but has not been delivered. The SGA has set a delivery deadline of November 1, 2007, before it takes further action.