What is now called the graduate CLASS fee was billed graduate students first during the Fall 2014 semester, and is now being billed to graduate students for the Spring 2015 semester as well. This fee is different than the graduate activity and health fees that cover events organized by the graduate student council (GSC), the Health Center, and other facilities provided by RPI such as the Mueller Center.

This fee was implemented without informing the GSC or the graduate student body about its purpose, and without seeking approval from graduate students or the GSC. We still do not know the purpose of this fee, and we have not been given the opportunity to vote on whether we want it or not.

The OGE is supposed to help graduate students at RPI. Levying fees while keeping graduate students in the dark is making graduate students' lives harder by taking our stipends away without giving us anything in return. The OGE needs to be accountable to graduate students, and until it is I refuse to pay the $85 CLASS fee for the Spring 2015 semester.