USG plans fee referendum; students to vote on $10 hike

The USG decided yesterday to put a referendum before undergraduates on whether to approve a $10 increase in student activities fees which will yield $40,000 for the student government.

The fee hike consists of an immediate raise of three dollars and a seven dollar raise in the coming academic year. The fee hike was approved by the USG Thursday.

The referendum, to be held sometime next week, is binding on the USG only if at least half of all undergraduates vote.

Questions added

Added to the referendum may also be questions on the uses for the money, said USG Chairman Richard F. Jacobson '78.

The last time the USG held a referendum was in October, 1976, when 800 students voted, far short of the 2200 required to make the vote binding.

The referendum effort quickly gained support of more than two-fifths of the members of the USG, following discussion about alternate means of determining student opinions.

(Under its constitution, two-fifths of the USG, or 200 students can have a referendum.)

USG members disagree on whether there should be a $10 fee hike. According to Jacobson, four USG members dissented form the vote implementing the fee hike.

"Too much, too much," complained USG delegate Alan P. Safran '80. "I don't think the hike should occur in this magnitude."

During last Thursday's meeting, however, the fee hike supporters said that Princeton's current $8 fee was the lowest of 15 other universities including all Ivy League schools as well as state universities in the area.

University Council member Eric S Koenig '80, who voted in favor of the hike and supports the referendum, said the increases in funds would permit the USG to provide social activities "that students have been asking so long for."

Eric R. Keller '81, a USG delegate, said he would evaluate the intended uses of the additional revenue gained by the fee hike and ask, "How much of it is going to benefit the entire community?"