Student Association considers raising Blanket Tax
The first Student Association meeting of the semester, held Jan. 13, introduced several action items for the upcoming semester, including increasing meal swipe donations and planning for the new student center set to replace the Rice Memorial Center. A report on the results of December’s special election regarding divestment and university spending was also on the agenda, however was tabled as student elections director Natalie Wang was unable to attend.
For the spring semester, the SA increased the maximum number of swipes that can be donated to off-campus students from 20 to 30. SA President Jae Kim said that this change was motivated by student input.
“Last semester, the max swipe donation was 20, but a lot of people told us, ‘I donated 20, but I still have 120 left over at the end of the semester,’ so we increased it to 30 this semester,” Kim, a Brown College senior, said in the meeting. “That’s unprecedented, because in the past [the maximum each semester] was 10, 10, 10, 15, [then] 20 last semester, but now it’s 30 … We’re looking to break last semester’s record of 14,000 swipes [donated].”
The SA also discussed a survey for student leaders to give input on the new student center, which has not yet been designed.
“It’ll really help us pull together a report to present to Rice University administration, so that when they’re actively in the process of deciding what kind of spaces will be present at the new student center, they’ll already have our opinion because we don’t want to [have admin] decide everything,” Kim said.
Kim also said that the needs of clubs whose leaders fill out the survey will be prioritized in the design.
A number of organizations have also applied for access to funding collected from the Blanket Tax. This funding, which is made up of $85 from each student’s tuition, is currently used by student media organizations, the Rice Program Council and the honor council, among others. SA treasurer Thomas Ngo said applicants included Rice PRIDE and Rice Apps.
Ngo also proposed a $5 increase to the Blanket Tax as an item for the SA election ballot later this spring.
According to Ngo, the Blanket Tax increase would address inflation over the past several years and would provide an additional $22,000 in funding for both existing and potential new Blanket Tax organizations.
“The Blanket Tax committee hasn’t finalized which clubs get to become Blanket Tax organizations,” Ngo, a McMurtry College sophomore, said in the meeting. “There may be no clubs that get approved down the line. We don’t know, but with this extra money, it gives us so much more leeway to do anything in the future.”
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