By Alistair Ogden / Staff Writer

File photo by Niusha Derakhshan / The Martlet

Every year at UVic, along with countless candidates for student government, the UVSS student elections pose referendum questions to students. Usually, these involve constituency groups looking for a one-time increase in in their semesterly fee levy, but this year, a much more ambitious question is being asked.

The referendum asks, “Are you in favour of adjusting students’ society fees annually to match Canada’s inflation target, to a maximum 2% per year, beginning in January 2019?”

Dwindling funds pose problems for constituency groups

“We’re a bit of an anomaly across student societies,” said Kevin Tupper, director of finance and operations, in that the society’s fees aren’t tied to inflation.

“Every year the cost of everything goes up. Usually it’s [by] about two per cent,” he continued. Meanwhile, student fees, which are relied upon not just by the society for its operating costs, but groups like The Martlet, CFUV, advocacy groups, and VIPIRG, remain at the same level, with dwindling returns over time. “And so it puts [these organizations] in a position where they can no longer have the fees to operate effectively,” Tupper said.

Students currently pay $76.70 per semester in society fees. If passed, the two per cent increase would mean that fee would increase by $1.53 in January 2019, and would then be adjusted every January to match inflation.

Across the country, universities have similar fee-increase programs based on inflation. But in B.C., there’s no provincial law stipulating such a practice, so it’s up to individual universities to determine their policies.

Notably, at the University of Northern British Columbia, an inflation-based fee increase policy was approved but never implemented, which played a part in the UNBC undergraduate student society’s financial crisis, which was made public in October 2016.

In 2009, a similar referendum was held at UVic, asking for membership fees to increase according to the Canadian Consumer Price Index. It failed by a margin of 2090 ‘No’ votes to 810 ‘Yes’ votes. But Tupper is optimistic that this year’s referendum could be a different story.

“We haven’t heard any opposition at this point, [and] everyone who I’ve talked to so far has been supportive. I’ve reached out and encouraged all of the candidates in the slates to get behind this as well,” he said.

But despite the positive reactions, this particular referendum result is by no means done and dusted. Though opposition is not necessarily vocal, it’s still substantial.

“In our annual survey we asked students . . . how they felt about this question [and] we did see a fair bit of opposition in that,” said Tupper. “And so when it comes to the voting day, we’re hoping that students will have read the [UVSS Elections] supplement, and that the slates really champion both of these referendums and push them forward and encourage students to vote in favour.”

Candidates’ support for referendum uncertain

MacKenzie Cumberland, Energize UVic candidate for director of finance and operations, said via Facebook that the slate does not support the referendum “as it would entail a permanent change in the fees of students.

“We do not believe that the students of today should decide what fees the students of tomorrow have to pay,” she continued. “Instead we hope to mitigate the costs of inflation through expanding and diversifying our business in the sub, which will generate more revenue without the extra cost to students.”

Connect UVic’s website does not make any mention of the referendum, or if the slate supports it. But Zennen Leggett, Connect candidate for director of finance, said the slate is in favour.

“In order to maintain budgets and allow for fiscal planning, we need to make sure that the student fees increase at the same rate as the Canadian dollar depreciates,” he said via Facebook. “Of course, we could deal with that further down the line, but student referendums are costly in terms of time and money, so I believe this solution would be the most efficient and cost-effective.”

If the motion doesn’t pass, the UVSS won’t run into any immediate problems, but the number of individual referendums on fee increases in the future will likely increase. And the budget for advocacy groups, clubs, course unions, and every other feature of the UVSS will continue to stagnate.

“What we’re seeing through clubs and course unions is a massive decrease in the amount of funding that the clubs and course unions are able to receive,” said Tupper. “There [are] more and more of them and the pot that they’re sharing has shrunk.

“I hope that students recognize that adjusting student fees to inflation is just good policy regardless of how closely affiliated you are with the UVSS,” said Tupper. “[The increase is] something that makes economic sense, will reduce the need for future referendums, and will help every single club on campus, every single course union on campus, and will let the UVSS continue to function as it does.”

With files by Myles Sauer