Who Spends Your Sticker Fee
By Tasneem Noor
Corsair Managing Editor

Questions are being raised as to who should decide how to spend student money that is collected at the beginning of every semester via the $10 Associated Students sticker fee.

Generally speaking, the A.S. manages a large budget on behalf of the students. This budget depends upon the $10 fee, which is their only source of income, other than savings from past years and donations.

From the $10 fee, 50 cents from each sticker goes in to the Public Relations fund.

This year there is $26,498 in the PR account.

SMC President Piedad F. Robertson and A.S. President Chason Smith decide on how to spend this money, leaving the rest of the A.S. board out of any decisions on using this money.

"In case of emergency, the PR account is a good idea, but when it comes to such a big amount of money, who's to say that two people know what is best for students?" said Inter-Club Council Chair Dina Cervantes. "This is an issue that comes up every year. It is students' money and we don't have a say in it."

The PR account is unlike any other account in the A.S. budget. By state law, no district money can go towards public relations. Therefore, the 50 cents from the A.S. stickers is the only source of revenue for the PR fund.

It came into being because of a proposal the A.S. board made to the administration.

The PR fund "was agreed upon and put in the constitution 20-30 years ago because it was seen as a way of promoting the A.S. card," said Robert Adams, vice president of student affairs. "From my understanding this was not a proposal the president demanded. They [A.S.] came to the president at that time and said 'We would like the card sold by the institution.' The proposal was accepted and in return, the president was given 50 cents from each sticker and that was the only PR money the president had."

An example of why some of the A.S. directors feel upset that only two people control the account is the Library's grand opening ceremony. For this event the A.S. was approached with a funding proposal of $8,300 to provide food and refreshments for the attendees. This proposal was passed at the finance meeting, but faced opposition at the A.S. board meeting.

"We thought $8,300 was too much for refreshments. We gave alternatives on as how to spend less on food," said Richard Navarrette, director of publicity.

The board ended up passing $4,300 for the event from the student success fund. But subsequently Smith and Robertson approved another $4,000 from the PR fund.

"The board should be informed about how that money [PR funds] is going to be spent. We knew when it was already passed. It was like a slap in our face," said Navarrette.

Lillian Cavalieri, primary commissioner to budget management, said, "A president, in the past or the present, should never, never take out any funding without consulting the A.S. board."

However, Smith said that he did present the possibility of spending the additional $4,000 from the PR fund to the directors at the meeting. His understanding was that the board did not want to spend such a large amount from "one particular line item, they wanted that money available for other student uses" and that is why the whole $8,300 was not passed by the board.

"Faced with the desire to have a successful event and the need to preserve student success line item, I knew there was another funding source that I presented at the finance meeting and to the directors before their decision was made," said Smith. "After the decision to spend $4,300 from student success was made then I pursued that alternate funding source, the PR account."

It was when Robertson became president that the A.S. president was given the right to have a voice in the PR account because "she said the fairest thing to do was to have joint money that both presidents will work with," said Adams . Now, if the two presidents don't agree upon how the money is to be spent, then it is simply not spent. Any money that is left over from the PR fund is rolled over to the next year and it remains in the PR account. "What doesn't get used one year gets used the next year," Adams said.

Nevertheless, directors that are interested in having more representation in this account still argue that students should decide how students' money is to be spent.

"The students did not just elect one president but the whole board," Navarrette said. "We just want to make sure the money is being spent for the students."

Funding given for the library opening ceremony "was benefiting the library image but not the students. The students benefit from the books, not the opening," Navarrette said.

Money from the PR fund can be spent on "anything that will make the college look good," said Smith.

Directors' main argument though remains the same - it is student money that should be used for the benefit of the students and student elected representatives should be able to decide how that is to be done.

"We are going to try to get the ICC chair and the director of budget management on the decision palette," said Navarrette.

To make this happen, the by-laws in the A.S. constitution will have to be changed.

This can be done by a two-thirds vote of both the board of directors and Inter-Club Council, which is only the first step in the changing process.

The final decision will lie in the hands of the Board of Trustees.

Adams said in order to make any changes "the first step is that those students that have any concerns have to voice it.

"If you don't do that then it is like someone standing on your foot and you don't tell them to get off. We have had no students talk to us about any kind of concerns that they have about the budget."

Director of Student Life Deyna Hearn said, "Nothing in terms of being unsatisfied or wanting to make any changes was mentioned. They definitely had the opportunity to address that."

Cervantes believes that homework should be completed before anything is said.

Concerns relating to the PR fund "have been brought up before last year and the years before that. This year personally I think before we bring it up we need to know what our rights are and do research. Be prepared for consequences but not without doing homework," she said.

Cervantes intends to talk to old directors and see what attempts they had made and what the results were. Also the Joint Council, which has the power to recommend changes to the constitution, has been called upon and is expected to have its first meeting in the coming weeks.