Student Fee Advisory Committee - UTDPP1037

Policy Statement

The Student Fee Advisory Committee is a University-wide Standing Committee not reporting to the Academic Senate of The University of Texas at Dallas.

The Committee is charged to review and make recommendations to the Vice President for Student Affairs and the President regarding budget allocations from student services fee, medical services fee, recreational facilities fee, student union fee, athletic program fee, and the Student Services Building fee revenues for the next fiscal year. Expenditures from these fees shall comply with State law, the Rules and Regulations of the Board of Regents, The University of Texas System, and general University accounting procedures.

The Committee membership consists of 9 voting members and shall include 5 student members, two faculty and two staff members appointed by the President or their designee.

Student members shall be appointed in accordance with state law and with the Constitution and By-Laws of the Student Government and the Graduate Student Assembly. Two students, appointed by Student Government, shall serve two-year terms and three students, two appointed by Student Government and the other appointed by the Graduate Student Assembly, shall serve one-year terms. Student members shall be representative of all students currently enrolled at UT Dallas.

Faculty members shall be nominated from the membership of the General Faculty (as defined in policy UTDPP1088 - Faculty Governance) by the Academic Senate.

Staff members shall be nominated from the administrative and professional or classified staff rosters by the Staff Council.

The Vice President for Student Affairs serves as the Responsible University Official for the Committee and shall convene the first meeting of the Committee each fall term for the purpose of selecting the Chair and Vice Chair.

Non-voting ex-officio members of the committee include the Dean of Students and the Senior Director for Finance and Administration for the Division of Student Affairs.

The Chair shall convene meetings of the Committee for budget deliberations and final recommendations. In order to make the university decision-making process related to student fees accessible to the public, state law (Section 54.5033, Education Code) requires that meetings of the Student Fee Advisory Committee at which a quorum is present be conducted in a manner open to the public in accordance with procedures adopted by the institutional president.

Accordingly, the following procedures apply to Student Fee Advisory Committee meetings:

1. Recommendations to the president require a public vote; quorum requirement:
   1. Final action to adopt committee recommendations to the president in regard to the type, amount, or expenditure of a fee within the committee's jurisdiction must be adopted by vote of the committee at a meeting at which a quorum of the committee is physically present.
   2. Committee should establish a quorum requirement that ensures student representative participation at committee meetings, but a quorum may not be less than a majority of the total membership of the committee.
   3. Vote and recommendations of the committee must be recorded and made public.
2. Any meeting at which a quorum is present must be open to the public:
   1. Any gathering of a quorum of the committee membership at which subject matter within the committee's jurisdiction will be discussed among committee members must be open to the public.
   2. Committee members should not engage in actions for the intentional purpose of evading the requirement for open meetings, e.g. while a committee may have subcommittees discuss matters within the committee's jurisdiction and make recommendations to the full committee, the full committee should not intentionally meet in numbers smaller than a quorum solely for the purpose of avoiding the requirement for open meetings. Similarly, the committee should not use telephones, email, text messaging, or similar electronic means by which to discuss matters within the committee's jurisdiction solely for the purpose of avoiding the requirement to conduct an open meeting.
3. Notice of public meetings:
   1. Committee must post notice of meetings open to the public and must include date, time, place, and subject of the meeting
   2. Notice must appear on the university website at least 72 hours prior to meeting time. Notice must also be published in the university newspaper if an issue will be published between the time of the website posting and time of the meeting.
   3. Committee may not adopt recommendations to the president at a meeting for which notice was not properly and timely provided.
   4. Committee may recess a meeting and reconvene at the same location without posting additional notice if occurrence is within 72 hours, and if date and time for reconvened meeting is announced at the initial meeting.
4. Meeting place:
   1. Meetings open to the public should be conducted in a space that is:
      1. large enough to accommodate the reasonably expected number of observers in addition to committee members; and
      2. reasonably convenient for public members to gain access.
5. Rights of Public:
   1. In an open meeting forum, committee may allow public observers to address agenda items; however the committee is not required to provide public comment.
   2. Committee may set reasonable limits on the number, frequency, and length of public comments.
6. Closed Sessions:
   1. Committee may not discuss official business during a meeting at which a quorum is present and closed to the public except on the express written authority of the president of the university.
   2. In authorizing a closed meeting at which a quorum will be present, the president must specify the purpose of the closed meeting and state the reason that a closed meeting is necessary to conduct committee business.
   3. If the president authorizes a closed meeting, committee must first convene in an open meeting forum for which notice has been properly provided. In the open meeting, committee must then resolve itself into a closed meeting forum. Further, the committee must reconvene in an open meeting forum before adjourning.
   4. Committee may allow an individual other than a committee member to attend a closed meeting if the committee believes the individuals attendance is pertinent to the item under consideration.
   5. Committee may not vote or take any other action in a closed meeting.

In accordance with the University's budget instructions and schedule, the Chair shall convey the Committee's final recommendations to the Vice President for Student Affairs who will report the Committees recommendations to the President.

After review and consideration of the Committee's recommendations, and in accordance with established procedures, proposed budgets funded by the student services fee, medical services fee, recreational facilities fee, student union fee, athletic program fee, and the Student Services Building fee shall be submitted by the President to the Board of Regents for final approval.