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Fee Transparency Project
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October 20th, 2025

3:30 – 5:00 pm

AgendaMinutes

Present: Marshall, Mel, Vir, Nicholas, Arielle, Sezona, Aims, Wahaj, Laila, John, Trey, Lucy, Sofia, Maya

Quorum is established.

  1. [3:30 - 3:33] Welcome and Introductions
    1. Members introductions: Name, Pronouns, Year, Major, and Space.
    2. Order: Cowell, Stevenson, Crown, Merrill, Kresge, Porter, Oakes, RCC, C9, JRL, Graduate Students, SAB, Provost, SUA, Lisa, Sezona, Lucy
  2. [3:33 - 3:35] Approval of Agenda & Minutes
    1. Approval of Agenda
      1. Marshall explains that he has added times to each agenda item to help us ensure we cover the entirety of the agenda.
    2. Approval of October 13, 2025 Minutes
    3. Mel motions to approve the agenda and the minutes. Nicholas seconds the motion. No objections. Motion carries.
  3. [3:35 - 3:40] Public Comment
    1. Today is the last day to register to vote for the special election.
    2. Maya shares that the Women’s Center is accepting nominations for their awards program. Maya shares the nomination form information.
  4. [3:40 - 3:45] Announcements & Updates
    1. SFAC Fall Retreat
      1. Doodle Poll
      2. November 21st at 7:00 pm at Sala Thai. Lucy will add a note to everyone’s calendar about the event.
    2. $500 for SFAC Fleece Jackets
      1. Current Jackets are for those tabling at Oakes-O-Ween
      2. Mel makes a motion to approve $500 for jackets. Vir seconds the motion. No objections. Motion carries.
    3. CSF Meeting at UC San Diego (November 14-16)
      1. Those are confirmed for the trip are: Marshall, Mel, Sofia, Laila and Vir. Anyone who will drive needs to be present when the car is picked up. The group will drive to San Diego in a fleet services car.
    4. Invitation from Oakes College Student Senate
      1. The Oakes Student Senate is excited to announce that we will be hosting our annual Oakes-O-Ween event again this year, and we’d love for you to be a part of it! NEW DATE: October 22nd
      2. The representatives confirmed are Laila. Mel will send out a call for volunteers to help with setting up, clean up, and staff the table.
    5. Athletics & Recreation RFAC
      1. FY26 - RFAC Charge Letter.pdf
      2. Lucy explains that Athletics and Recreation is looking for students to serve on their reserve fee committee. A&R has two referendum that pay for facilities (one for the wellness center and one for general facilities); these fees have a reserve and a recommendation is required from a committee in order to access funds for maintenance projects.
      3. Nicholas, Sezona and Marshall are interested. Lucy will submit nomination forms for the three of them.
  5. [3:45 - 4:10] Discussion on SFAC Role in Campus Based Fees
    1. Pro/Con statement in campus fee referenda
      1. Marshall explains that the UCOP policy on student fees indicates that SFAC should opine on each proposed fee in the spring elections. Most campuses do a pro and con statement; UCSC does an opinion poll. UC Davis actually has authority in the campus elections process.
      2. Marshall would like us to consider moving toward a pro and con statement model. This would allow SFAC to provide educational information that is factual, instead of an opinion statement.
      3. Example: https://as.ucsd.edu/referendums/press2025.html#fee-administration-and-oversight
      4. UC Irvine Elections Timeline: https://studentgov.uci.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/2024-08-guide-to-creating-a-student-fee-referendum.pdf
      5. Maya motions to speak with Travis Becker, the Campus Elections Commissioner, about this process. Sofia seconds the motion. No objections. Motion passes.
    2. Fee referenda town hall
      1. Mel explains that during the elections process, we would like to invite different departments and student groups that receive funds from campus based fees, to have an event with food and an opportunity for students to engage with these departments.
      2. This is something that the Outreach Sub-Committee could do.
      3. We can invite TAPS to participate; we can speak to Dan when he visits with the committee in winter quarter.
      4. Vir asks about SFAC’s position on this? Is it engagement with the services? Learning about where our fees go, etc.? Mel says all of the above.
      5. Mel explains that we can also invite departments that have received SFAC funds in the past.
      6. Sezona says as a new student it would be helpful to know about the service and how to access it; maybe a dollar amount would be helpful, but it’s important to know what the service is since we are already paying for it. Arielle says that she wasn’t aware that a % of what students pay goes back to students. She would like to see a pie graph or charts for example.
    3. SFAC involvement in developing policy on pausing or reducing fees
      1. UC Office of the President Campus Based Fee Policy: https://policy.ucop.edu/doc/2710528/PACAOS-80
        1. If you review this policy, 85.00, there is a statement that says that Chancellors should develop local procedures for reducing, eliminating fees.
      2. UCSC Campus Election Policy: https://deanofstudents.wordpress.ucsc.edu/files/2025/07/final-ucsc-elections-policy-01-05-2022.pdf
      3. https://policy.ucsc.edu/policy-owners-resources/
      4. Working Document
      5. Thoughts on the idea of this policy:
        1. Vir says that fees today are written with very explicit rules. How would this policy apply? Marshall explains a policy like this would apply for pausing a fee or eliminating a fee (for example if a service is no longer provided that was previously funded by the fee).
        2. Marshall explains that his main concern is that some fees have large carry forward amounts. Eliminating seems to be appropriate only if a program is discontinued. Reducing a fee makes sense when a program is not able to fully implement their operational plans in a given year (for example, during COVID).
        3. Here is a report that Lisa provided last year to help understand some of the larger carry forward amounts: 2023-24 SFAC Budget Presentation.pdf
        4. Nicholas thinks the policy could be helpful.
        5. Arielle motions to move forward with developing a policy. Wahaj seconded the motion.
          1. Maya asks for clarification on this item; is it a budget review or a policy development? This is a policy development project.
          2. Mel asks for clarification as well on whether the policy would pause a fee, or reduce a fee. Marshall says that the focus would be on pausing but likely not reducing an actual fee amount.
      6. Example of one of SFAC’s opinion statements from last year:
      7. Embedded image from the original meeting document
  6. [4:10 - 4:13] Advisor Updates
    1. Lucy explains that moving forward we will have some time at each meeting for orientation and ongoing training.
    2. A reminder to members that when we discuss topics related to departments or fees that an SFAC member has direct engagement with (for example a member of SFAC works in a department that is requesting funds), it is important to disclose that information and sometimes it may be appropriate to recuse yourself for the discussion. Talk to Lucy if you have any questions.
  7. [4:13 - 4:30] Orientation Continued
    1. Review budget terminology
    2. Small group orientation “workshops” moving forward. Lucy explains that for the rest of fall quarter, we will spend time in small groups, continuing to learn about topics related to SFAC operations. The small groups will be the same that we will work in for winter quarter when we review the funding call.
  8. [4:30 - 4:57] [CLOSED SESSION] Resource Centers and Measure 83
    1. Discussion on Summer Fee Rates and FY 25 SFAC allocations
    2. Closed Session Agenda
  9. [4:57 - 5:00] Vote on Measure 83 and FY 25 SFAC allocations.
    1. Motions are made to set the Measure 83 summer fee at $5.00 per student and to confirm the 2025-2026 SFAC funding awards for the Resource Centers to $126,492.06. No objections, motions pass. Lucy will notify the Resource Centers of the outcome.
    2. All present members except Nicholas vote in favor of a $5.00 fee rate.
    3. The reasoning for this is as follows:
      1. The $5.00 summer rate is to maintain current operations until SFAC review of measure 83 in FY 27. This is due to a lack of concrete plans on behalf of the resource centers.
      2. The Resource Center allocations are maintained as it would be too disruptive to reappropriate these funds.
  10. [5:00] Adjournment

Upcoming Guests/Topics:.

  1. November 17th, 3:30 - 4:00 pm: Amber Blakeslee, Associate Vice Chancellor for Budget, Analysis, and Planning
  2. SSF/M7 Annual Report + Overview of Measure 7 (Requested by Lisa)
  3. SFAC SSF Annual Report: https://cosaf.ucdavis.edu/sites/g/files/dgvnsk1561/files/inline-files/COSAF_Annual_Report_2024-25.pdf
  4. Student Media Council Summer Fee/Student Voice and Empowerment Fee Review
  5. November 3rd: Student Voice and Empowerment Fee Summer 26 Review (SCOC)
  6. Measure 86: Theater Arts - establishing summer fee level for new fee.

Meeting and Committee Member Resources:

  1. SFAC Roster
  2. Orientation Materials
  3. Agendas and Minutes
  4. Tracking Sheet for Campus Based Fees ongoing discussion
  5. Google Folder