Press Clipping: Questions Arise About the Use of Student-Activity Fees

Questions Arise About the Use of Student-Activity Fees

By Michele N-K Collison
April 22, 1992

Reports that student political leaders have spent student-activity fees for perks ranging from limousine rentals to trips to Africa have increased scrutiny of student-government associations.

Most student governments are managed without the slightest hint of impropriety, college administrators say. But the scandals come at a time when the public is angered by revelations about the perquisites that Congress and other public figures have enjoyed and when many college students are hard pressed to pay rising tuition and fees.

"The national mood is that public servants must be perfect," says Gary Pavela, director of judicial programs at the University of Maryland. "We're going to be expected to supervise students more than we have. If university funds are involved, legally and ethically, we can't simply turn it over without adequate supervision and monitoring."

Typically, student-government budgets are generated by student-activity fees that are levied by institutions. The fees, which vary from campus to campus, provide some student-government officers with large budgets. Student fees generate $4-million at the University of Florida, for instance. The student governments, in turn, provide financing for a variety of student organizations and activities.

Many of the student governments hire business managers, and institutions regularly audit the groups' financial records. But many students and college administrators question whether sufficient safeguards are in place to prevent abuses in the wake of scandals about the misuse of funds. Among recent examples:

* A state audit last year found that University of Iowa senate members who attended a 1989 student conference in Florida spent $1,263 on taxis and rental cars, even though they stayed in the same hotel as the conference. The students also spent $635 on meals, even though meals were included in the pre-paid conference fee.

* After allegations by students that student-government officers traded committee positions for votes, bribed potential opponents, and received stipends for meetings they did not attend, Florida International University administrators disbanded the student government in 1991.

* The comptroller of the Student Government Association at Sage Junior College of Albany allegedly embezzled nearly half of a $20,000 account earmarked for student activities last year. The student was charged with embezzling $9,500 in student-activity fees. The comptroller has pleaded not guilty and is awaiting trial.

Members of the City University of New York Student Senate provided what is perhaps the most sensational example of extravagant spending. In 1991 Jean LaMarre, chairman of the senate, and other officers of the system-wide governing body spent the organization's entire annual budget of $345,000 in just six months.

Mr. LaMarre and other senators spent more than $85,000 in expenses that were improper or undocumented, including $23,400 on car rentals, cellular phones, and beepers. The senators also approved a $4,500 loan for three students to attend a conference in the Ivory Coast. Each of the expenses had been approved by university administrators after the fact. Mr. LaMarre also hired his twin sister as his executive assistant at an annual salary of $26,000.

Despite the public outcry about the expenditures, Mr. LaMarre was re-elected to his post in October. He would not return phone calls from The Chronicle. In a New York Times article, however, Mr. LaMarre said: "There is nothing that we spent, nothing that we purchased that was not legitimate and that was not approved by the university."

Mr. LaMarre would not comment on the university's plan to rein in the free-spending ways of the senators.

Starting this fall, the university has suspended the 85-cent activity fee per semester that each of the 200,000 students attending the university previously had been charged. In addition, university administrators now must approve all items before the Student Senate can spend any money.

CUNY student officers were able to take advantage of lenient financial guidelines that were established in the 1960's, said Tilden J. LeMelle, who was vice-chancellor of student affairs at CUNY until last May.

Mr. LeMelle, who is now president of the University of the District of Columbia, says he recommended to Chancellor W. Ann Reynolds before he left the university that the guidelines be strengthened.

"The guidelines were so loose you could drive a Mack truck through them," Mr. LeMelle says. "Allowing students to run their own affairs is a good idea. But controls need to be there so there are limits beyond which students can't go."

Although CUNY officials say the accounting changes were necessary, student-government leaders are upset over the more stringent controls. In addition to other restrictions imposed on the system-wide university senate, student-government associations on individual CUNY campuses will be subject to more supervision.

"They are using what happened at the senate as a vehicle to take control of the student-government fee away from students," says Kim Ray, president of the Day Student Government Association at CUNY's Hunter College. "There's been no audit that says the college associations misappropriated any money. It is the students' money, and students should have control over the way the money is spent."

Ms. Ray acknowledges that some of the expenditures were extravagant. She ran unsuccessfully against Mr. LaMarre in the last student senate election, and she concedes that Mr. LaMarre's re-election "sent out a bad message, especially to the state legislators that the Student Senate lobbies."

But Ms. Ray says that college administrators also must take responsibility for some of the excesses. "Jean didn't sign those vouchers by himself," she says. "The administration was negligent. The administration played a big role in allowing the excessive spending to take place."

Indeed, student-affairs administrators say rules have to be spelled out so that the student-activity fund is not misused. "You have to teach some kind of fiduciary responsibility," says Phillip E. Jones, dean of students at the University of Iowa. "If the university didn't ask, the students got away with what they could. When there are no rules, and no standards, you must put some in place."

Until new procedures were adopted in 1991 at the University of Iowa, for example, student officers could spend the $800,000 in annual student-activity fees without prior approval from university officials. Student senators must now get the approval of administrators before they spend any money.

Mr. Jones says the university has also eliminated the cash advances that students used to receive for purchases. Iowa students pay $17.55 per semester for the student-government association.

Some observers believe that some student leaders become awed by the amount of money they control. "These student-government presidents are like little mayors," says Butch Oxendine, publisher of Florida Leader magazine, and a former student-government leader.

He says: "Most are not out to commit fraud, but some tend to misuse their roles. They funnel money to their friends' organizations, or get friends into a football game. It's like junior Congress. They are learning politics."

Higher-education officials say that increased supervision is a marked change from the 1960's and the 1970's, when student-government associations demanded more autonomy from university administrators. Since that time, student governments generally have been free to set policies and spend money on activities as they saw fit, as long as they did not violate any laws.

In the last two decades, however, student-government associations have grown in size and complexity. Many associations, such as the Associated Students of the University of California, lobby legislators on issues affecting students, and they own businesses such as bookstores and note-taking services. And as enrollments have grown, so have the treasuries of student governments.

Administrators say that students have a right to self-governance. However, "I don't think students' right to self-determination means license to do whatever they want to do," says Richard J. Correnti, vice-president for student affairs at Florida International University.

Mr. Correnti recommended that the president of Florida International disband the student government last year because of the allegations of corruption, including payment of stipends to officers who did not attend meetings.

The student officers controlled a $3-million budget financed by student-activity fees. Florida students pay $6.15 per credit hour for the student-government association.

University officials say the allegations could not be confirmed because of shoddy record keeping by student officers, but the complaints were so numerous that the university decided that its only recourse was to restructure student government and call for new elections.

Mr. Correnti adds: "You can't pay people when they are not performing a job or use student-government money to rent limousines."

Many student officers and college administrators, however, say students are not out to abuse their power. "I think it's more of an ignorance issue," says Scott Jenkins, executive director of the Florida Student Association, a statewide organization.

Mr. Jenkins says he meets with each new president at the start of his or her term and discusses financial responsibility. He also recommends that each student-government association hire a business manager.

"It's not like these students are professionals," says Mr. Jenkins. "Most 20-year-olds understand accounting as much as they do balancing their checkbooks. You have to spell out what you can and can't spend student government money for."