TO THE EDITOR:
I was glad to see The Daily Tar Heel run a cover article about student fees (“ITS weighs new fee”), but more reporting on fees is needed because it can be very difficult for students to find information about how fees are spent. In particular, the expensive Education and Technology Fee is spent on many different things, but it is charged to students as a single amount and no breakdown is widely available.
There are many options for implementing the proposed network charge, including re-prioritizing existing technology spending within the Education and Technology fee, but for students to have a strong voice in this issue they need to be educated about the process and know whom to contact. The DTH can play an important role here by bringing additional substantive reporting about fees to its student audience.
I hope that the DTH will send a reporter to meetings of the Student Fee Audit Committee and the Student Fee Advisory Subcommittee and publish a list of student representatives who serve on those committees.
Graduate and professional students who have concerns about student fees should feel free to contact me at gpsftreasurer@unc.edu.
Alex Mills, Treasurer
Graduate and Professional Students Federation
