The big topic of the Associated Students of the University of Arizona weekly meeting on March 29 was a college specific bylaw proposed by Senator Kincaid Rabb for the College of Fine Arts, which would not require the College of Fine Arts senator to sit in on fee discussion for review or reporting.
Rabb defended the bylaw stating that the program financials are specialized and complicated but there is not any notable opposition from students.
“Most of the students in the College of Fine Arts are absolutely, unequivocally willing to pay more, understanding that the attitude around the arts in the city, state, even country that we live in is negligent,” Rabb said. “We need to supplement resources ourselves in order to produce the highest quality work we can and in order to maintain artistic resiliency.”
Rabb felt that it was unnecessary for students to try and inject themselves into the conversation with administrators in regards to fees.
However, ASUA President Michael Finnegan posed a question regarding the effectiveness of fee discussion if a senator was not required to be a part of the negotiation.
“If you don’t require this for senators to be a part of this conversation, how can this conversation be adequately held?” Finnegan said.
Finnegan expressed concern that allowing the College of Fine Arts senator to be excused from discussion might cause problems in other areas or set a different standard for the senator of that specific college.
Administrative Vice President Tatum Hammond said that if there was more comprehensive evidence that the College of Fine Arts students were accepting of fees, then she would support the bylaw as proposed.
“With just a general saying of ‘they don’t care’ that doesn’t show us anything,” Hammond said. “We don’t know that they don’t want to be a part of the conversation.”
Rabb responded that he had reached out to the student body in the College of Fine Arts on an informal level and was interested in the idea of a more formal information gathering endeavor.
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