NORTHRIDGE : CSUN Students to Vote on Fee Increase

The Student Senate at Cal State Northridge has voted overwhelmingly to seek approval from students for a proposed $40 fee increase for athletics in next month’s balloting for student elections.

In a separate action Tuesday, the senate also voted to ask students to approve a first step toward changing the school’s nickname. As a result, the April ballot will ask students to authorize a marketing study to learn the effects of scrapping the existing nickname, Matadors, and replacing it with Quakes, or another moniker.

Last week, a Student Senate committee rejected the name Quakes for fear of a lawsuit by a minor league baseball team, the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes. However, today’s vote brings the proposal back.

The idea of putting to a vote the proposed fee increase, which would be phased in over the next five years, was approved by the senate on a 17-2 vote.

If students approve the increase and administrators agree, fees paid to the Associated Students would more than double by the 1998-99 school year, increasing from $32 to $72 per semester.

The fee increase was proposed by the Northridge Athletics Congress and backed by the athletics department, which contends the money is needed for athletic scholarships and increased participation in women’s sports.

Although recent tuition increases at Cal State Northridge have been debated on campus and blamed for lagging enrollment, the senate Tuesday spent little time debating the effect of an extra $80 per year in fees on students’ pocketbooks.

One senator, though, graduate student Peter Egeghy, argued against it, saying that the turnout in student elections is notoriously small and that approval might not signify a real mandate for the fee.

Those in favor of the motion cited the lack of resources in CSUN’s athletic department, the need for more women’s sports, and the difficulties of athletes who must hold down jobs for extra cash to stay in school.

Students will benefit from their investment in athletes, argued Richard Gitahi, a distance runner and accounting student who argued for the measure.

“Student athletes bring recognition back to the university,” he said.