SGA Finally Comes to a Decision about Student Fee Increases

The Student Government Association finally reached a decision about increases in student fees at last night's meeting. The journey to that decision was a long, hard one for all in attendance. The debate about student-athletes receiving a bigger increase in funds lasted over two hours alone. This drawn-out argument led to the expansion of the meeting for an extra hour, making the whole thing last a total of three.

There was an extraordinary amount of people in attendance at last night's meeting, most of them being student-athletes. Many different points were brought up by the SGA members, which led to many different questions and opinions from the entire crowd. The mediator tried keeping things as professional as possible but still wasn't able to control the whole crowd the entire time.

The SGA itself had split opinions on the issue of whether or not the athletics department should receive the 26.4% funds increase that they had been promised. Some members believed that funds should be spread more evenly among all students at Western Illinois. Others felt that the athletics department deserved the increase in funds in order to safely allow all of their teams to continue to travel and compete with the new members of the conference.

SGA member Kyle Davis said "athletics are the front porch of the university." He continued to explain that the sports teams are what gets most of the media attention for the schools, and that they need the appropriate funds to continue doing so. Many other people thought his comment was absurd. Students representing the Black Student Association were wondering where academics stood in this picture. Both sides of the argument had valid points, but in the end the athletic department increase fund stood as first proposed.