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January 15, 2004
Volume LV, Number 15
Serving UNC Wilmington sine
Student voice nearly absent in tuition decision
Kiara Jones
Sarah Broders
Assistant News Editor & News Editor
With the new tuition increase
upon us, another concern has aris
en: students have a disturbingly
small voice in important decisions
at this university.
On Dec. 12 the UNCW Board
of Trustees met in a special meet
ing to discuss the tuition and fee
increases for 2004-2005. The pro
posed increase would raise tuition
$360 per year for the next two
years and would also increase stu
dent fees by $57. The board voted
in favor of the increase, with only
two members opposing.
The UNC Board of Governors
will vote on each campus’s rec
ommendation at the Feb. 12-13
meeting.
The board of trustees is com
prised of people appointed by the
Governor and by the UNC Board
of Governors. They are allowed to
serve two four-year terms and are
typically people who either are
connected to a university or are
high-profile citizens. Wynne is
the only student on the board and
is a member because he is the
Student Body President.
The greatest concern is that
students were not sufficiently
notified of the proposed tuition
increase and the ways in which
they could voice their opinion.
According to administration, a
campus-wide email was sent, let
ting students know about the pro
posal and about an open forum
that was to be held to discuss it.
When several students were
asked about the email, an over
whelming number either didn’t
receive it or didn’t read it because
did attend, although most of them
were from the Student
Government Association, and
only one voiced their opinion to
Andy Bader/the Seahawk
Chance Lewis and Rene Jordan show how students
at UNCW do not have a say in issues such as tuition
increases. A tuition increase was instated Dec. 12.
it looked like just another press
release from the school.
Even if the students were
aware of the open forum, it was
on a day that most students could
not attend. The open forum to dis
cuss the tuition increase was held
on Dec. 5. This was originally
reading day, but it turned into the
hurricane make-up day. Either
way, students would have been
either studying for finals or in
class.
Nevertheless, a few students
the board. This made minimal
impact in the decision-making
process.
Since additional student rep
resentatives on the board is not a
possibility, the next best thing to
get students involved in the deci
sion is to have additional student
representatives on the tuition task
force-the group that actually
makes the recommendation to the
Chancellor.
“The tuition task force is
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where we could have more stu
dent members. Unfortunately, we
had no set pohcy that says who
sits on that task force and when it
meets. That was the
largest cause of concern
for myself and the SGA. 1
requested that the admin
istration come up with a
plan before the trustees
January meeting that can
be set as university poli
cy. I am hoping this plan
includes a large number
of students and begins
meeting far in advance of
any deadline,” Wynne
said.
Wynne asked for four
additional students to be
on the tuition task force,
and received them.
However, Wyrme had a
hard time filling those
spots because of the
strenuous schedule that
the task force chose (four
meetings in one week,
each for more than two
and a half hours).
In addition, this year the
tuition task force did not begin
meeting until Nov. 7. “This both
ers me because the task forces at
other schools had already made
their decisions by that time, and
we were just starting, knowing
the trustees had to meet on the
issue in December,” Wynne said.
By the time the tuition task
force started meeting, there was
less than one month before they
had to have a recommendation for
the Chancellor.
“I respect the administration
and the task force, but this kind of
work cannot be rewarded,”
Wynne said. “I am certain our
school will move to correct these
problems in the future.”
Both Chancellor DePaolo and
Chairman Jeff D. Etheridge
voiced their concern over the mat
ter as well. “We run this institu
tion for the students-for their pres
ent and for their future-they need
more voice in this,” said
Chairman Etheridge.
“In terms of the past process,
I believe Student Affairs worked
with the SGA president to get stu
dent representation on the tuition
committee. Now, 1 am very con
cerned about having much more
student involvement, as well as
making the committee’s work an
ongoing, annual process. 1 have
asked Vice Chancellor Pat
Leonard and Interim Vice
Chancellor Kay Ward to initiate
this change,” DePaolo said.
However, the administration
is not the only one at fault, said
Wynne. Students may not be
eager to serve on a tuition task
force. Wynne commented that it is
difficult to get students involved
here at UNCW, especially in com
plex issues such as budgets and
tuition.
“1 am hoping that a more stu
dent friendly tuition task force
will get more students involved,”
Wynne said.
Students can also get involved
by going to trustee meetings.
Board of Governors meetings and
writing trustees.
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