The University of Idaho will welcome seven powerful guests to campus this week. Unknown to many students, they hold the power to implement widespread changes in schools and universities across the state. The not-so-secret group is of course, Idaho’s State Board of Education, which will meet this Wednesday and Thursday in the Student Union Building Ballroom.
The SBOE will decide whether or not to approve the proposed 4.7 percent increase to UI undergraduate tuition — the lowest proposed increase in a decade. Although the SBOE has the power to approve a lower tuition increase, this is not the time for them to exercise that power.
The proposed tuition increase would address essential budgetary items that will allow UI to sustain the current level of resources and education that students expect.
These increases will be used to fund salary increases for faculty and administrators who have not received a raise in two years and have seen their buying power decrease while cost of living has risen. The additional funds will also pay for salary increases for faculty who have been promoted this past year.
UI would struggle to finance its operations without these additional funds, which not only makes the SBOE’s decision critical, but also essential to the university’s future.
Every student is busy this time of year, and it would be unrealistic to expect that students will take hours out of the middle of the day to attend a lengthy budget meeting.
However, students should pay close attention to the decisions made at the two-day meeting, as the power they have to change UI policy is substantial. UI students discovered this a few months ago, when the SBOE granted sole authority over the Student Statement of Rights to the university president.
This meeting will surely hold a similar degree of significance.
–RT