62% of the boost will go to Fresno State athletics.
Fresno State President John Welty on Tuesday approved a steep hike in a much-debated student fee that will help the athletic program while expanding access to academic extras.
But some students were shocked by the announcement, saying the increase is too much to bear in tough economic times and reflects a misguided emphasis on athletics.
Students overwhelmingly rejected a higher fee increase in a recent advisory vote.
"This seems to me one more way that academics takes a back seat to athletics," said Eric York, a junior from Tulare with a double major in biology and chemistry.
Calling it "a very difficult decision," Welty approved a $52 per semester increase in the instructionally related activity fee, beginning with the 2008-09 academic year.
Thirty-two dollars of the increase will go to athletics. It is expected to raise about $1.4 million a year, much of which will pay for the women's lacrosse and swimming/diving teams that begin competition next school year.
The remaining $20 of the increase will fund participation in activities such as conferences, student travel and music festivals.
The activity fee now is $10 per semester. None goes automatically to sports.
University officials and a student government leader emphasized that the fee increase will triple the money available to students for academic projects.
But it's the athletic portion of the hike that provoked sharp campus debate over the past month and raised questions about what the university has described as the athletic department's uncertain finances.
The issue arose in January when the Welty-appointed Commission on Athletics Finances issued a report with a provocative conclusion: If Fresno State athletics is to remain competitive in Division IA, the program needs more money.
The old funding model of Bulldogs sports, with its emphasis on ticket sales and donations, can't sustain the program in the fast-changing intercollegiate athletics industry, the commission reported. Higher student fees were among the commission's recommendations.
The issue lay dormant in the public eye until late March, when students learned their annual election of student government leaders would include a nonbinding referendum: Do they support a $70-per-semester hike in their IRA fee, with $50 of the increase going to athletics?
Although turnout was slight in an electorate of about 20,000, students on April 8-10 rejected the referendum by nearly 2-to-1.
The nine-member Campus Fee Advisory Committee met April 23 and, after an hour of often impassioned testimony from students, recommended a compromise to Welty: cut athletics' portion of the increase by $18, to $32, for a total fee hike of $52.
Welty had final authority to impose the fee.
Supporters of the fee hike said Fresno State students pay significantly less to support athletics than do students at other public universities at the Bulldogs' level.
In Tuesday's announcement, the university noted that Fresno State students now pay $7 per semester for athletics as part of another fee. This compares to $65 at San Jose State, $90 at San Diego State and $56 at the University of Utah, the university said.
Opponents of the fee hike said Fresno State officials failed to provide the detailed budget analysis proving that a $23 million annual budget isn't enough for the Bulldogs to stay competitive in the Western Athletic Conference and as a midmajor program.
These and other familiar themes in the debate collided again Tuesday.
"Fairness was important to me in this particular decision in that our students had been spared significant student fees for athletics in the past," Welty said in an interview.
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What a spectacular postseason for Fresno State baseball. Though a total team effort, which Bulldog would get your vote for CWS MVP?
The MVP goes to the whole darn team. They wouldn't have won if they all didn't work together.
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