Don’t sign that check just yet

Jon Slaughter, an A.S. staff member and activity fee director, reported the fund’s 10-year “financial overview” through 2010-11 and said that “to keep our operations as they are now,” the students won’t be asked to vote in another fee hike until 2007. (The activity fees levied upon Chico State University students are currently $80 a year.

But a particular line item caught the attention of GAC officers: a projection that $25,000 from activity fee funds would be paid out each year, starting in 2002-03, to reimburse the university for the costs of the Common Management System (CMS).

CMS is the computer software program that the California State University has ordered put into use systemwide to manage personnel, student records and other data. Chico State has set aside $2.8 million this year for the controversial project, which comes at a time of budget cuts and increased enrollment.

A.S. President Amber Johnsen said that, since the GAC has formally opposed the CMS, it’s not right for the activity fee budget to read as if the student government is preparing to pay for the system.

“If the A.S. approved a resolution to not fund CMS, it should not be here,” Johnsen said, politely. “It is almost as if we are forgoing the resolution as written and approved by the students.”

Last fall, the GAC voted to adopt a resolution stating that, "The Associated Students will not support the CMS system financially or accept any mandate requiring it to implement CMS."