Student fee allocation procedure not followed

All students at Eastern pay a $250 student fee. Where the money is allocated is decided by the student fee allocation committee (SFAC). Like most of the other organizations, the library wanted more money, but this request was different from the others because it was required.
The library asked for an increase from their $23.50 to $27.63. The reason the fee needed to be increased was because the Logan campus was increasing the required payment for Eastern to use the database system. The committee understood the need for the money, but it was discovered that there had been a memorandum signed by Eastern’s chancellor promising the money for the increase would come from the student fees in June.
This statement was signed without SFAC being formed yet and without consulting students about where their money would be going. After some research and questioning, it was also discovered that Logan students do not pay the same amount for the databases that they were requiring of Eastern students and with the same $27.63, USU makes the library in Logan a better environment for students through various upgrades. According to the requests that the SFAC got from the library, price campus would not see a cent of this money from the student fees and all of it would be going to Logan to pay the electronic resource fee.
When the SFAC submitted their decisions to the Budget committee, the library was to be increased to $24.40, which is the number calculated from Logan’s library request on how much money went to the database system. Weeks later, the Eastern budget committee decided to increase the library fee to the amount that was promised by the chancellor to the Logan library system and take the money needed to do so from the student bond.
The student bond is the money that is used to pay off the JLSC that was made years ago by a different EUSA. When the student fee allocations were submitted, $55 dollars went towards the bond that was to be paid off next year. The administration claims that taking the money will not change when the bond is to be paid off.
“Administration has a hard job. It’s like having a shirt on that has a target on both sides. They have to make decisions knowing that there are two sides to please. In the case of the library fee, they didn’t side with the students, for whatever reason. It is disheartening for me, and I hope it doesn’t become a pattern,” said Phill Raich, student body president.
Should students have the final say in where their money goes? That is a question that should be asked. The memorandum that was signed for the library fees does not follow the procedure of how the students fees should be allocated and, in a way, silences the voice of students.