2008 Woodie Awards
ASUN agrees to cap library fees
Ryan Boetel
Issue date: 2/29/08 Section: News
Over the past several weeks the Association of Students of University of Nebraska have spent hours debating how much students should pay to help the university's library system. On Wednesday night, they decided students shouldn't pay any more than they already do.
ASUN began discussing the issue at their meeting on Feb. 13, when they passed a bill that increased the student library fee from $2 to $3 per credit per semester. This increase would have been used to help university libraries keep their current list of serials. A serial is anything the library has to pay for more than once, such as magazine and journal subscriptions.
ASUN President David Solheim vetoed the bill. It was the first time the senior political science major had vetoed a piece of legislation, and Solheim said he did so because he felt the structure of charging students based on credit hours placed too much of a burden on undergraduates, especially those taking a lot of credit hours.
At their weekly meeting on Feb. 27, the bill was reintroduced to the student government, this time with a 15 hour cap on the number of credits a student could be charged for.
"I think its fair," Solheim said of the cap on Wednesday afternoon prior to ASUN's weekly meeting, "I hope that we have some good conversation on the issue. I think the cap is a good policy."
If conversation was what Solheim wanted, then he got what he asked for. The student senators spent hours trying to look at the issue from every possible angle.
"Last year we heard that everything was fine and now there is a crisis," said Greg Gifford, a human science graduate student and ASUN senator. "There is a lot of stuff missing here and I don't feel comfortable taxing students."
Alan Ratliff, a senior English and ASUN senator, was originally one of the most outspoken senators in favor of increasing student fees. However, at some point around 10 p.m. during ASUN's Wednesday meeting, he changed his mind.
"I realized that I am unconformable using student fees on something that is an academic necessity," Ratliff said on Thursday afternoon. "I'm going to look into this $2 fee, maybe we shouldn't be paying anything whatsoever."
News of the student senator's change of heart reached University Libraries on Thursday. Joan Giesecke, dean of UNL libraries, was disappointed.
"Most of the students showed support for the original bill at the previous meeting," Giesecke said, "After the president vetoed it, he offered his support on the revised version."
Now, Giesecke said the University Library System will be cutting more serials than was planned and will begin working with the administration to find another source of funding.
"The journals we will be cutting are no longer obscure," Giesecke said, "Now we are talking about things like the Wall Street Journal."
RYANBOETEL@DAILYNEBRASKAN.COM
ASUN began discussing the issue at their meeting on Feb. 13, when they passed a bill that increased the student library fee from $2 to $3 per credit per semester. This increase would have been used to help university libraries keep their current list of serials. A serial is anything the library has to pay for more than once, such as magazine and journal subscriptions.
ASUN President David Solheim vetoed the bill. It was the first time the senior political science major had vetoed a piece of legislation, and Solheim said he did so because he felt the structure of charging students based on credit hours placed too much of a burden on undergraduates, especially those taking a lot of credit hours.
At their weekly meeting on Feb. 27, the bill was reintroduced to the student government, this time with a 15 hour cap on the number of credits a student could be charged for.
"I think its fair," Solheim said of the cap on Wednesday afternoon prior to ASUN's weekly meeting, "I hope that we have some good conversation on the issue. I think the cap is a good policy."
If conversation was what Solheim wanted, then he got what he asked for. The student senators spent hours trying to look at the issue from every possible angle.
"Last year we heard that everything was fine and now there is a crisis," said Greg Gifford, a human science graduate student and ASUN senator. "There is a lot of stuff missing here and I don't feel comfortable taxing students."
Alan Ratliff, a senior English and ASUN senator, was originally one of the most outspoken senators in favor of increasing student fees. However, at some point around 10 p.m. during ASUN's Wednesday meeting, he changed his mind.
"I realized that I am unconformable using student fees on something that is an academic necessity," Ratliff said on Thursday afternoon. "I'm going to look into this $2 fee, maybe we shouldn't be paying anything whatsoever."
News of the student senator's change of heart reached University Libraries on Thursday. Joan Giesecke, dean of UNL libraries, was disappointed.
"Most of the students showed support for the original bill at the previous meeting," Giesecke said, "After the president vetoed it, he offered his support on the revised version."
Now, Giesecke said the University Library System will be cutting more serials than was planned and will begin working with the administration to find another source of funding.
"The journals we will be cutting are no longer obscure," Giesecke said, "Now we are talking about things like the Wall Street Journal."
RYANBOETEL@DAILYNEBRASKAN.COM
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