A computer screen with three green dollar signs with a lavender background. Joe Addison // AS Review
By Kaiya Wilson
The Student Technology Fee Committee asks for student input on 15 proposals for the Student Technology Fee Tech Initiatives for the current academic year by May 15.
Associated Students Senate Pro-Tempore Adah Barenburg co-chairs the Student Technology Fee Committee with Vice Provost for Information Technology Chuck Lanham.
“The Student Technology Fee [STF] supports the acquisition of technology to enrich students’ academic experience,” Lanham said in an email. “The Associated Students and Information Technology Services co-chaired STF committee appreciates the input from Western students, faculty and staff towards the Tech Initiative program. [Students] input directly provides more informed technology decisions.”
The committee consists of three other students, two faculty members and the director of ATUS. Committee information can be found here.
“This committee makes decisions on how to use the $4.35 that each full time student contributes towards buying technology for students to use,” Barenburg said in an email.
The AS sent an email to students on April 21 to ask for their input. Barenburg said the fee is not changing, just the use of the money is changing.
“The only part that has changed is how the money is spent because of COVID-19 there has been money poured from the fee towards things that will help students during COVID-19 like buying laptops,” Barenburg said in an email.
Student comments should be sent to the Administrative Assistant to the Vice Provost for Information Technology Diane Bateman and are due on May 15. The proposals are on the Student Technology Fee website and are open to the public for review.
Barenburg added that on April 2, 2020 Western President Sabah Randhawa announced the temporary suspension of any non-essential expenditures, which has delayed the funding of projects, but she wants to make sure students stay updated.
“Students can stay updated by emailing me with additional comments. The website has all of the proposals for anyone to look over and the timeline for when we are making decisions,” Barenburg said in an email.
Barenburg said the Student Technology Fee committee is still meeting to discuss which proposals they will fund, they will not be funding any new projects until the suspension is lifted, which will probably be after mid-October.