After rewording some semantics, ASUA has passed a fee statement that would require departments or units creating a fee to hold a survey vote.

The statement was also amended to allow for the Associated Students of the University of Arizona to assess the content of survey votes before endorsing it as an accurate representation of student opinion.

In addition to fees, the subject of overall costs to students came up when the Arizona Students’ Association presented its 2011 strategic plan to the senate.

The plan was based on data gathered from a survey of 4,196 UA and Arizona State University students at both the graduate and undergraduate level. The survey focused mainly on financial challenges that come with the cost of college.

The presentation of the survey was sprinkled with anonymous comments from surveyed students, such as, “”Financial aid is what levels access to higher education. It is the gatekeeper.””

Some of the goals outlined in ASA’s plan included increasing financial aid and shifting conversation away from price of tuition and toward total cost of attendance.

Sen. Jeff Adams recommended that senators continue to speak with students on the issue of guns on campus.

Adams said that after attending the “”Learn Without Concern: Civil Discourse on Concealed Weapons on Campus”” forum, held earlier in the day, he saw that the issue was not as one sided as people might think and that “”the students of the university are very, very split on this issue.””  

ASUA President Emily Fritze offered a differing opinion from Adams, noting that people should keep in mind that people were invited to speak at the forum because of their opinions.

She shared her perspective from going to classrooms to talk to students about proposed gun legislation.

“”I’ve never seen students so engaged and concerned about an issue,”” Fritze said.

While people may not be out there being outraged, she said, she’s seen more concern about the possible legislation than acceptance of it.