U NC’s Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Winston Crisp and the UNC-system Board of Governors are exploring ways to lower student fees, which have climbed 11 percent in the last six years .
With the issue of whether or not to raise or lower student fees being a pressing matter at the UNC’s Board of Trustees most recent meeting, the board must appreciate the vital role UNC’s Campus Health services provide to the UNC community. While granting Crisp’s proposed $7 increase to Campus Health-related fees might be too hard of a pill to swallow for the board, it should not cut Campus Health Services to meet the proposed $20 student fee reduction.
One such service provided by Campus Health that Crisp has considered cutting funding for is sexual health education. At a time in UNC’s history partly defined by the University’s stances towards sexual health and sexual assault risk reduction, it seems highly counter intuitive to cut from this area.
Similarly, cutting funding from access or inclusion programs that deal with diversity at a time of notable lows for some minority groups on campus seems misguided.
The issue seems to center around the UNC Board of Trustees’s lack of appreciation for the necessity of sexual health programs for students. In Crisp’s pending proposal to the board concerning where and how funding should be changed, Crisp should highlight the importance of sexual health and diversity programs. Plenty of other Campus Health programs funded by student fees may have less of an impact on the University when experiencing minor cuts, such as Interactive Carolina Theater and other nutrition and stress relief outreach programs .
One way or another, the suggested $20 cut to student fees should not place valuable services from Campus Health at risk.
