The Associated Students of the University of Wyoming (ASUW) is in the process of creating a committee to review student fees in order to create a central location on their website for students to access and view where their money is going.
“We’re paying into the service of the university and we deserve the best quality it can be,” said political science major Hunter Bullard. “It’s important to bring awareness for what students pay for so they can better advocate for themselves.”
ASUW President Talamantes said that the senate bill, if passed, would combine the two ASUW committees that work with student fees and create a more efficient process of regularly reviewing and adjusting student fees.
The new committee would increase the transparency between all departments of the university for students. Talamantes said fees will regularly be assessed by the committee and all fees would be uploaded to the ASUW website in a central location for students to access.
“I feel it is critical for ASUW to be uploading that information to our website in one place so students can always reference them,” said Talamantes.
There will be the first reading for the creation of the committee tonight October 6.
The fate of the senate bill will be announced next Tuesday, October 13. Should the senate bill pass, further readings will be held with ASUW for the next steps.
The process that began the creation of the committee started this summer with a petition, which was started by Bullard. Bullard said she started the petition after learning that she will be charged $25 per credit hour for online classes as opposed to the $3 per credit hour for in person classes.
In addition, Bullard said students were being charged athletics fees this semester before it was even known that sports would be opening again.
Bullard created the Student Coalition of UW to continue advocating on behalf of students.
She said that the Student Coalition is to be a liaison between students and the administration. They currently have a poll open to students and faculty on the Student Coalition Instagram page (@studentcoalitionuwyo). The survey allows anyone to submit an issue that they would like to bring awareness to.
Bullard said that ASUW does not have power to enact any bills. They can pass resolutions that show that the student government supports the topic, but it is up to the UW administration to enact any bills.
All ASUW meetings are held on Zoom every Tuesday at 7 pm. Anyone can observe the meeting via Zoom or Facebook live and review the agendas that are available on the ASUW website.
