Update: Vote On UTEP Athletic Fee Postponed
UPDATE:UTEP’s Dean of Students Gary Edens confirmedWednesdaymorningthat the UTEP athletic fee vote, originally set for today and Friday, has been postponed.
“After receiving student concern that there was insufficient plan for student supervision of the voting process, we decided to postpone it,” Edens said. He added that the UTEP Student Government Association is meeting after spring break to select an election commission that will oversee the effort.
“What some students felt is they took the role very seriously role and wanted to make sure it’s as transparent as possible,” Edens added, “and I support them in that.” The decision not to take the vote today and Friday was made after 8:30 p.m. Tuesday night.
By ABC-7 Reporter Darren Hunt
EL PASO, Texas – The financial future of the UTEP athletic program could be in the hands of students over the next couple of days.
UTEP students are being asked to vote on a new athletic fee that would increase tuition and send an additional million dollars a year to the athletic department.
But the timing of the vote has some scratching their heads.
“This is a way for the students to participate in athletics,” UTEP Assistant to the President Richard Adauto said.
Here’s how it works: The new fee costs each student $10 per credit hour. However, UTEP would decrease the student service fee $2, making it an $8 per credit hour net increase, or about $96 per semester for a student taking 12 hours.
“It’ll go to the general operating budget of the athletic department,” Adauto said.
And what better time to ask? The UTEP basketball team is as good as ever!
“The timing is good, obviously,” Adauto said.
At least partially to blame for the UTEP athletic department’s financial issues are the failures of the football program and the inability to sell more season tickets, which are key to supporting all of UTEP’s athletic programs. But it’s the recent success of the basketball program that may be what gets this initiative passed.
“(The success of the basketball team is) probably a big point right there to it,” junior Civil Engineering student Eric Hernandez said. “Since we want to continue that.”
Sophomore Education student Veronica Hernandez said, “They picked a good time because a lot of people support them. It’s a smart decision to tell us about it right now.”
UTEP officials say the timing has nothing to do with the basketball team.
“What we’re trying to time this with, quite frankly, is the upcoming legislative session in January 2011,” Adauto said. “Because we still need to get legislative approval of the fee.”
