As a member of UND Student Senate, I strongly support the Senate’s actions in regard to funding the “One Stop Shop” project.

Upon receiving the university’s request to reallocate $2 million in student fees (a cost project ion that has already grown from the original $1.5 million request) to the One Stop Shop without a set budget, questions were asked how to best protect students. We came in with the view of this student fee money as an investment, and we set out with a purpose of guaranteeing a return on investment for students.

In talking with the students of UND this week and last, we have found mixed responses to the request. A few students support the plan. However, a growing number oppose the One Stop Shop and its $2 million price tag. We had to find a compromise between these groups of students and the university administration.

We did this by requiring a tuition rate cap of 3.72 percent, the maximum amount the State Board of Higher Education has already authorized for the next academic year. This would combat the 101 percent increase UND students have seen in tution over the past 10 years, a rate about four times that of inflation. SB1314-12 gives the campus the One Stop Shop while at the same time financially protecting the students who do not support it.

It is worth noting that it is currently within the administration’s authority to operate anywhere at or below the rate authorized by the state board. The only way for the 3.72 percent to change in the upcoming year would be at the request of the administration, something they have complete control over.

A poll conducted by Student Government showed the typical UND student spends less than 15 minutes each semester utilizing services located in Twamley Hall, which are essentially the services that would be integrated via the One Stop Shop. Even if the project cut that time in half, it would result in time savings of less than seven and a half minutes per semester for each student — seven and a half minutes for $2 million in student fees.

Could the One Stop Shop project be convenient? Probably. Would it be a nice feature to tout on campus tours? Certainly. But is it worth the $2 million price tag for students, in addition to a potential big increase in tuition? I struggle to understand how it could be, because when you get to the crux of the issue at hand, the One Stop Shop is a luxury project — we just don’t need it.

The political philosopher Edmund Burke said, “All government, indeed every human benefit and enjoyment, every virtue, and every prudent act, is founded on compromise and barter.”

I truly believe that Senate came forward with the best compromise given the circumstances. While it does not completely satisfy any group, I do not think a true compromise can. In the end, I stand by my peers in the Senate and hope for the best from the university.

Brett Johnson

student senator