Arts & Lectures is asking students to pay an additional $4.24 per quarter as one of the many proposed fee increases on the upcoming spring campus election bal- lot.

If passed, the fee increase would begin in fall and would be subject to joint reaffirma- tion in spring 2015, poten- tially raising the overall undergraduate fee per student for Arts & Lectures to $8.24 per quarter. Arts & Lectures hosts a range of perfor- mances on campus — recent acts include Ziggy Marley, Yo-Yo Ma, Jack Johnson and Bill Nye the Science Guy.

Three dollars and eighteen cents of the fee would go directly to Arts & Lectures, with the remaining $1.06 going to financial aid and all other non-capital expenditures.

Students can also vote on the Arts & Lectures reaffirmation support fee, which decides whether to continue the $2.00 campus lock-in fee that each student currently pays per quarter.

Heather Silva, assistant to the Arts & Lectures direc- tor and contracts/grants ana- lyst, said Arts & Lectures enriches students outside of the classroom.

“The fee increase will help out students by maintaining student ticket pricing low or free as many of them are now, as well as helping to keep the students employed through Arts & Lectures,” Silva said. “Arts & Lectures events are important because they playa strong cultural role in students’ lives on campus, and this small fee increase will go to further support the events and keep bringing big name acts to students for free or for a very low cost.”

A minimum of 20 percent of the student body must vote for the election to be considered valid. Reaffirmations will be denied if 60 percent or more of the student voters vote against supporting the fee.

Laurel Beckman, associate professor of Digital Intermedia and Public Space Art in the UCSB Art Dept., said Arts & Lectures plays a vital role for the campus and extended community.

“The question of a fee increase leads one to also factor in the fact that the Arts & Lectures presenta- tions are pay-for-entrance events,” Beckman said in an e-mail. “One option, if they need to raise more funds, would be to increase the ticket prices, which would also impact students. The best-case scenario is that the tickets remain affordable, while sustaining the presen- tations along with campus support.”

Third-year history major Megan Keavney said she hopes Arts & Lectures will be able to sustain the qual- ity and quantity of UCSB-hosted events.

“I think it’s really important to support Arts & Lectures because they are able to bring speakers and other performers to students for discounted prices when usually it would be really expensive,” Keavney said. “There are so many cuts going on to higher education, so I want to support the events they put on.”

Information about proposed fee increases and the upcoming campus elections can be found at campuse- lections.sa.ucsb.edu. Students can vote online through GOLD starting April 18.

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