Student Activity Fee Board Meeting
Friday, October 16, 2015
3:30 pm 111 HUB
Minutes
Attendance
Present
Andrew Bradshaw, UPAC Representative
Terry Ford, UPUA Representative
Kevin Horne, GPSA President
Andrea Dowhower, Asst. VP for Student Affairs
Emily McDonald, UPUA President
Shawn Lichvar, CCSG President
Austin (AJ) Fink, CCSG Representative, SGA President, Penn State Altoona
Mandy Eagler, CCSG Representative, SGA President, Penn State Shenango
Patrick Tanner, Director of Student and Enrollment Services, York
Kenneth Miller, Senior Director of Campus Planning and Student Affairs, Behrend (via phone)
Mary Edgington, Senior Director, Union and Student Activities
Kevin Harwell, Faculty Senate Committee on Student Life
Elizabeth Edger, CCSG Representative, Campus Chair, Worthington Scranton
Welcome/Roll Call
Welcome and roll call.
Adoption of the agenda
A motion to accept the agenda was made by Emily McDonald and seconded by Terry Ford. All
were in favor.
Adoption of the minutes from September 25, 2015
A motion to accept the September 2015 minutes was made by Terry Ford and seconded by
Austin Fink. All were in favor.
Announcements by the Chair
Andrea sent the timeline with dates out to the board after the September meeting. Let her know
if you did not receive or have questions.
Public comment
None at this time.
Items to be discussed/voted on
None at this time.
Items for introduction and initial discussion only
Student Legal Services
Kelly Mroz from Student Legal Services attended the meeting to discuss the materials shared
with the board prior to the meeting. This is a very busy student legal services office. The office
was set up to help students with legal issues and provides advice, legal representation (depending
on the matter) and refers to other offices if necessary.
Kelly is requesting a funding increase of $1 to maintain the level of service they are providing
currently. Kelly has been a part of this office since 2012 and has worked hard to make the
students feel like valuable clients in a law office. They have a 97% approval rate. They see 60%
criminal cases and 40% civil cases. They provide 1 on 1 consultation, outreach and advocacy.
Kelly has conducted some benchmarking with other universities of similar size and services.
The office runs on a very tight budget. Money is used cautiously while maintaining services.
Mandy asked why not ask for additional money over the $1 if it could be used wisely. Again,
Kelly referenced using the money cautiously and that right now the demand can be met
maintaining the current staffing. The increase is needed to cover the gap in funding in the current
budget.
Kevin asked why Penn State seems behind the other universities. Kelly stated that we are not
viewed as necessarily behind but are looked at as maximizing the funds allocated and being a
very efficient office. Some of these other universities pay their staff much higher than we do.
We utilize free services, and the law students who are in the office are not paid. They are
serving as interns.
Ken asked if there is a backlog or delay in services. Kelly has worked on speeding up the
process. Monday and Thursdays students can drop in. The drop in hours are stressful for the
lawyers but very helpful for the students. The goal right now is to see the students within one
week.
Andrew asked if the incidents that students use the services for are in Centre County or out of the
area. Kelly stated that representation is only in Centre County but they do provide consultation
and referrals on other incidents. Lawyers can only practice in their state but have a colleague
database that they use to refer students when necessary.
Andrea stated that only University Park students can utilize these services as the funding is from
the activity fee at UP only. Kelly stated that they have a great website that all students can
utilize. There is a lot of information on there about landlord issues and expungements, etc.
Andrea closed the conversation stating that this was very good groundwork for the upcoming fee
discussion. Send questions to Andrea and she will obtain answers from Kelly and decide
whether it will be necessary to have Kelly come back to a future meeting.
Initial Fee Level Discussion
Andrea asked the group what information they need to begin the discussions on making a
decision on the fee levels for next year. Andrea gave some examples of information which are
the following:
CPI/ inflation rate;
A UPAC presentation on where they stand and what the projections are for allocations this year
at UP;
Discussions with DSA’s about the campuses fees.
Shawn asked if they should look at national trends. Andrea stated that it would be difficult to do
comparisons because universities use fees very differently.
Other suggestions:
1. Look at number of student orgs
2. UPAC policy changes
3. Enrollments at campuses
Terry asked how much of the HUB debt is left. It is seven years. There is also debt service for
the Health Center which is much longer. As of the current policy, there will be no additional debt
services added.
Mandy asked if there is leftover money at the campuses, will it be rolled over. Andrea stated yes.
Shawn asked for a stratified picture of the campuses over time. Ken stated that they use a
formula to determine what they need. The campuses were very happy to have the substantial
increase last year. Campuses do provide information for this discussion. Andrea, Ken and Patrick
will gather the DSA information. The SGA Presidents need to collect information from their
constituencies.
The information will be shared at the December meeting and the board will vote in January.
Topics for the year
Terry stated that the Student Fee Commission will hold their first meeting this week. They have
an outlined proposal and mission and have created three subgroups. The commission is working
on scheduling a meeting with senior administration. Andrea reminded the group that this board
is not a place to vote on this information but the board can provide feedback to be given to the
commission.
Kevin addressed the UPAC membership on the board. It was discussed three years ago that
UPAC should not have a vote on this board. In his opinion, UPAC is a stakeholder of the
money. He feels this is a conflict of interest due to the upholding of policies and making sure all
organizations receive money fairly.
Emily shared that this is similar to Student Legal Services who also makes a request for funds
from this board.
Mary stated that both GPSA and UPUA vote on their own allocations and their own budgets and
they also having voting seats on the board.
Andrea stated that this is a bigger issue because the SGA’s at the campuses sit on their allocation
committees as well.
UPAC‘s budget is not their own. They allocate the money to the student organizations.
Andrea asked for a subcommittee to be formed. Emily and Shawn will co-chair. They will work
with Heide to set up a meeting.
Other discussion
None.
Recommendations to the Vice President
None at this time.
Adjournment
A motion was made to adjourn the meeting by Terry Ford and seconded by Andrew Bradshaw.
All were in favor.