The democratic process is alive and well this week as the University of Illinois’ Campus Student Election Commission seeks student signatures to place questions on the upcoming March 2015 election ballot. The Champaign-Urbana Mass Transit District (MTD) is one of those contenders as it seeks to place two questions on the ballot regarding student fees paid for unlimited access to MTD service.
The first question is, “Do you recommend an increase to the Transportation Fee to fund the continuation of existing CUMTD Bus Service under the Campus Transportation Plan through June 30th, 2018?”
As the supporting documentation provided by the Illinois Student Senate (ISS) details, this increase covers inflationary costs of the current service with a $0 increase of 2016, a $1 increase for 2017, and another $1 increase in 2018. The current semester fee for 2014-2015 is $59. The Campus Transportation Ad-Hoc Committee of the ISS recommended that “all current services be continued.”
The second question asks, “Do you recommend an increase of one dollar ($1) to the Transportation Fee, separate from the increase presented in Question 1, to provide a new bus route to serve Central Campus, FAR/PAR, and the College of Veterinary Medicine?”
The Campus Transportation Ad-Hoc Committee concluded that this additional route would “improve timely arrivals for students travelling to classes to or from VetMed.” The route would essentially operate in a circle to the locations listed in the question above on a 30-minute frequency during the weekday daytime.
A petition to put those questions on the ballot became available today, February 19th. Undergraduate and graduate students may log in to the petition and click yes or no and then electronically sign to place these questions on the ballot. Five percent of the total student body must vote “yes” in order for the questions to come to a vote at all.
Both questions are posed by the ISS. The questions are the result of months of work and research completed in coordination with the UI’s Office of the Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs by MTD’s staff and Board of Trustees. MTD and the University collaborate every three years to renegotiate the transportation contract for campus service. Both an ISS representative and a University of Illinois representative hold ex officio, non-voting, seats on MTD’s Board of Trustees.
MTD and the ISS have until 4:59 pm on Tuesday, February 24th to get the signatures needed for the election on March 4 and 5. Again, this is not a link for the students to vote yes or no on either question. This link is to a petition to get these questions on the ballot. If you’d like another community perspective, MTD posted the petition link on the UIUC sub Reddit and a healthy conversation has resulted.
Best of luck to all candidates and ballot measures!