Student Flee Committee

Portland State students elected seven members to the Student Fee Committee last April, but after a wave of member departures in December only one elected member remains on staff.

Committee Chair Amanda Newberg is the lone holdover from April’s election and the only member the student body elected. Rudy Soto, president of the Associated Students of Portland State University (ASPSU), appointed the rest of the committee’s members.

From July to December, seven staff members of Newberg’s Student Fee Committee have departed for a variety of reasons, including academic ineligibility, personal reasons and work schedule conflicts.

The turnover results in an SFC where all of the elected members, excluding the chair, were appointed without direct input from the student body.

“The worst, obvious ramification is that I’m the only one that was elected. So, the way that looks, I think, is really negative,” Newberg said.

The Student Fee Committee ��(SFC) allocates $12 million in student incidental fees to nearly 150 student groups, including Athletics and The Vanguard. Each student taking 12-credits at PSU this year pays $202 a term in student fees that go solely to the incidental fee.

Every year, students elect seven committee members, including a chair, while the student body president appoints one member. These eight students are responsible for deciding how much money you pay each term in student fees.

Newberg thinks appointing new members is positive because the biggest complaint she heard about last year’s SFC staff was that they failed to uphold their commitments. This year, she said, members have left before being unable to handle their commitments.

“It’s always better to have the people who were elected on the committee, of course, but circumstances didn’t allow for that to happen.”

Reasons for leaving

Elected members Nam Vu and Nourah Al-Jaber left the committee in July because they were not academically eligible, according to Newberg.

Lindstrom, who served as the SFC vice chair last year and a regular member this year, said she tried to warn new members early on that the workload would become strenuous in winter term. Some individuals failed to listen and quit after discovering how many meetings were scheduled on the winter term calendar, she said.

“Shyla [Waldern] and Leah [Meijer] both are the ones who quit because they didn’t realize how much work it was going to be.”

Waldern was appointed after Vu and Al-Jaber departed in July. Both Waldern and Meijer left the SFC in September.

In December, elected members Lindstrom, Jake Mecum and Munira Amme resigned from their positions on the committee because of other opportunities, including jobs and travel, Newberg said.

The turnover experienced by the SFC will only bruise ASPSU’s reputation if they allow it to, Soto said.

“I feel like where things are at right now we’ve built a really strong organization this year through the work we’ve done. I don’t think students will notice a decline whatsoever.”

Increased workload

The most recent SFC departures, Mecum, Lindstrom and Amme, came less than a month before the committee begins budget season, a five-week period where the SFC discusses student group’s budgets and decides how much funds each group will get next year.

Last year’s SFC chair, Madeline Enos, said budget season requires members to work more than 40 hours per week and Lindstrom approximated that this time period represents 60 percent of the committee’s yearly workload.

“A committee could really get away with doing nothing during the spring and summer,” Lindstrom said. “The way the stipend works is basically SFC members get ripped off during winter term and they kind of get compensated for that lack of pay for the amount of hours they’re working during the spring and summer.”

Lindstrom does not believe any of the recent departures were the result of an increased workload during winter term. Instead she thinks the departures are because of inadequate pay for SFC members. SFC members make $500 a month, the vice-chair makes $550 and the chair makes $750.

Newberg said lack of scheduling flexibility — and not additional work — was the dominant reason for the departures.

Concerns from an experienced source

During Enos’ reign as SFC chair last year, the committee experienced slight turnover, with two members leaving the entire year.

Enos said she understands members often leave the SFC because it is a substantial time commitment and she imagines members are simply getting burned out with all of the responsibilities.

While Enos said it is positive that there is a process to appoint students in vacant positions, she is concerned that a primarily appointed SFC might not represent all of the interests and perspectives of the student body.

“It makes for a committee that might not have the same diversity of opinions because usually those who are elected have already been involved around campus. It can create an insular environment where not everyone is represented.”