ASB President Gregory Alston speaks during an event during Creed Week in front of the Student Union.
Photo by Anna Brigance I The Daily Mississippian
The Associated Student Body senators voted unanimously Tuesday night to pass a resolution temporarily suspending the Legacy Gift Campaign.
Resolution author and ASB President Gregory Alston as well as Co-Signer Emerson George presented the resolution to the ASB Senate in order to make registering for classes less confusing for students.
The Legacy Gift Campaign was founded by ASB President Virginia Burke in 2010 to fund renovations for the Student Union and Turner Center. Students must accept or decline the opportunity to donate $50 to the campaign before they can register for classes each semester.
ASB Vice President Morgan Gregory agreed that temporarily suspending the campaign would help students during the registration process.
“I think this protects the student body from doing something they weren’t aware of,” Gregory said. “I know a lot of cases where they accidentally opted in, and it was a really difficult process for both them and the university to undo that.”
Senator Rod Bridges was glad the Senate could vote on the resolution before the spring registration window opens.
“I think it’s something necessary that we had to do under the certain time constraints,” Bridges said. “I know a lot of students are having problems, especially when they register for classes. In their hurriedness they click the button that actually tacks on $50 to their tuition that they didn’t know about.”
The Legacy Gift Campaign is similar to the Capital Improvements Fee that was implemented for the Fall 2013 semester. The Capital Improvements Fee also requires each student to pay $50 but is included in the cost of tuition.
Alston chose to write the resolution to keep students from accidentally paying the fee twice. By temporarily suspending the campaign, members of the ASB have time to review the best way to make the Legacy Gift available to interested donors.
“We don’t know how long it will be suspended for,” Alston said. “We just need to look in to everything about the Legacy Gift: why it was started, how it’s been going over the past couple of years, and if we want to continue it in the future.”
