Two Syracuse University students have started a petition calling for SU Athletics, not the entire university, to pay the $7.5 million Big East conference exit fee.

The petition went live on Change.org on Thursday, said Ross Lazerowitz, a sophomore systems and information science major who co-launched the petition with sophomore policy studies major Emily Ballard. More than 200 members of the SU community, including students, faculty and alumni, had signed the virtual petition by Sunday, according to the website.

The petition, Lazerowitz said, is intended to call for transparency within the administration and raise awareness about the exit fee among the SU community.

Many students do not know about the exit fee or how the university plans to pay for it, Ballard said. The University Senate passed a resolution earlier this month stating that SU Athletics should cover the fee, but Ballard said it has been largely ignored.

“That showed me that we needed to get more student support behind it,” she said.

Ballard, who is also chair of the Student Association’s Board of Elections and Membership, said she is happy with the online response so far, and would ideally like to see 500 people sign the petition.

Kevin Quinn, senior vice president for public affairs, said in an email that the revenue gained while in the Atlantic Coast Conference, which would be redistributed to the university colleges, will exceed the total cost of the exit fee.

“Funding initiatives like this across the university budget happens often when it is an initiative that benefits the entire university,” he said.

Lazerowitz said he was disappointed that Chancellor Nancy Cantor and Vice Chancellor and Provost Eric Spina did not stay to field questions after their presentation at last Monday’s SA meeting, which catalyzed the launch of the petition.

Although Spina met with SA cabinet members later in the week, Lazerowitz said he felt this is not the same as an open forum. Students have not been given sufficient information about the exit fee, he said, and there is no breakdown of how tuition is allocated.

“I just feel like it’s very closed door with a lot of this stuff,” he said. “I don’t feel like there’s enough transparency in the administration.”

On Friday, one day after the petition went live, Cantor responded to an email from Lazerowitz and arranged a meeting with him and Ballard this week. Lazerowitz said he pushed for a town-hall-style meeting, but Cantor cited time constraints. She agreed to meet with SA early next semester, he said.

Mahlet Makonnen, a sophomore policy studies major, said calling for transparency within the administration was a factor in her decision to sign the petition. She said she would like to see an open forum that discusses how the fee will be paid.

“There’s no communication between students and administration, and that’s why I signed up for the petition,” she said. “I want the students to be informed, as I wasn’t until recently.”

Published on April 29, 2013 at 12:13 am