On Nov. 3 the Missouri Students Association announced the results of its fall 2022 election. Students voted on four separate measures pertaining to the continuation of the sustainability fee, the student media fee, amendments to the MSA constitution and electing academic senators.
Voting opened at 6 p.m. on Oct. 31 and closed at 6 p.m. on Nov. 2.
Sustainability Fee
Seventy-eight percent of student voters elected to keep the sustainability fee, which is currently included in undergraduate student fees. Additionally, the sustainability fee was adopted as permanent, with 65% of voters in favor of the change. The sustainability fee is currently charged at $1.87 per semester per student. The fee was first introduced at the start of the fall 2009 semester at a charge of $1 per student per semester.
The sustainability fee funds Sustain Mizzou, a student organization which promotes sustainability efforts through various events and programs across campus. In 2017 voters rejected making the sustainability fee permanent.
Senior Samantha Hole, MSA Internal Affairs Chair of Operations, supported the act based on her experiences with sustainability. Hole toured Colorado State University before coming to MU and was impressed by its sustainability measures, later realizing MU had comparatively few sustainability measures in place, such as recycling.
“I wanted to support the initiative because I just overall generally believe in sustainability,” Hole said. “I think that giving students the fee and the opportunity to be more proactive and sustainable measures is something that we should all take part in… bigger institutions, especially like universities, can make a lot of change in good ways.”
Regulation of the Student Media Fee
The act regarding regulation of student media fees passed with 69% support. In the spring 2020 election, voters approved the Student Media Fee. This latest measure allows for added oversight of the fee from the Student Fee Review Committee.
The Student Fee Review Committee reviews the use of activity fees for various campus organizations and recommends how the funds should be allocated for the following fiscal year, according to senior Tate Howell, chair of the SFRC.
“We [the SFRC] will be given oversight so that the students can feel confident that their contribution to the student media organization is being stewarded wisely,” Howell said in a statement to The Maneater.
Mizzou Student Media consists of The Maneater, KCOU and MUTV. The student media fee is currently charged at $2.50 per student each semester and funds these organizations.
MSA Constitutional Amendments
Amendments to the MSA Constitution focused on updating terminology, inaccurate information and grammatical errors passed with 69% support.
Academic Senators
In addition to the MSA ballot measures, 22 academic senators were elected.
Hole encourages students to use their voices and vote to affect policy decisions.
“So if people are upset about how many student fees there are, what they’re spending their money on and things like that, they have the chance to vote on them in these elections,” Hole said.
According to Hole, MSA has struggled with encouraging students to vote, but she said she is encouraged by increasing turnout among students.
“Voter turnout, it’s very hard, but it has been promising because more people voted in this fall election than they did in the last fall election cycle,” Hole said. “So we saw the growth in voters, which is really exciting. And we’re hoping to continue the trend for the spring and have more people vote in the spring elections.”
Edited by Zoe Homan | zhoman@themaneater.com
Copy edited by Jacob Richey
