Interim Athletic Director Ted Kadowaki presented his proposal to the Associated Students Inc. senate on Wednesday to raise student fees from $25 to $89 in order to raise money for Beach Athletics.
Kadowaki spoke during the meeting about the Sustain Beach Athletics Survey which has been available for students to take to share their views on Beach Athletics.
“We proposed an increase of $64 a semester for every student that would generate about $4.5 million for the athletic department,” Kadowaki said.
The athletic department opted to try and pass this through an alternative consultation initiative rather than a direct student referendum.
“The president didn’t want to just raise the fee. She wanted to really gauge how important is athletics,” Kadowaki said.
Student athletes also spoke at the meeting and advocated for the fee increase to get the money they feel will help them stay competitive.
“We know we have it better here in terms of the support from the school, our athletic director, our coaches and knowing that they’ll push for things like this,” said Mason Briggs, a player for the men’s volleyball team.
According to Kadowaki, the athletic department is $4.5 million in the red. This proposal was aimed to sustain the current spending of the department, not increase it.
Kadowaki pointed to the rising costs of athletics as the need for a more stable source of income. Some questions asked in the survey include “Do you find value in Beach Athletics remaining competitive in the top tier of NCAA Athletics?” with answers ranging from high value to low value and some in-between.
Many senators questioned the validity of the survey presented to students, claiming it was skewed toward support for athletics.
“Actually, looking at the survey there are some questions that are heavily leaning towards athletics favorably,” said Senator Stephanie Marquez, representing the College of Liberal Arts.
Senator Teresa Falcon, who is also on the Student Fee Advisory Committee, criticized the lack of transparency in the survey.
“My recommendation and the recommendation I had during the meeting are that you are transparent in the survey,” Falcon said, referring to a Dec. 9 Student Fee Advisory Committee meeting.
The proposed fee increases are visible on the front page of the survey.
Kadowaki said that the survey has been taken more than 4000 times, although it should be noted that students can take the survey as many times as they please.
The survey will run through Feb. 28 and will be summarized and reported to the Student Fee Advisory Committee on March 10.
If approved by the advisory committee and the president, the fee would go into effect in the fall 2023 semester.