By Justin Young

Asst. News Editor

If Carson Kuo attended Syracuse University, then the argument about the proposed $120 co-curricular fee would likely be much quieter.

Whereas the current SU Student Association passed a resolution against the fee, Kuo is the latest of several Northwestern University’s Associated Student Government financial vice presidents who have battled the administration to have their student activity fee raised.

Northwestern is one of the group of 12 private universities that SU compares itself to financially. After the co-curricular fee proposal passed in the University Senate, SU released the fees that the 12 universities charge their students.

SU’s proposed new fee would go along with the current student activity fee of $104. The university hopes to fund several new initiatives such as an off-campus housing office and retooling old ones such as the Arts Adventure program.

The current Northwestern fee is $33 for each of the quarters that the university divides the academic year into. Kuo said that the annual $99 per student (the university does not charge students during the summer quarter) is not nearly enough to fund the student groups that petition for money each year. Northwestern only provides funding for about 40 groups on campus that have been approved to receive money.

The fight for more money at Northwestern has been an ongoing battle. The most recent victory for students came in 1999 when Kuo’s predecessor lobbied Northwestern’s Board of Trustees to hike the fee from $22 per quarter to $44. The measure also won a two-thirds majority in a student referendum. The board agreed that the raise was necessary but did not want to double the fee, so they compromised on $33 and told ASG to return in two fiscal years. Enter Kuo, who began his year-long term at the end of March.

“(Student group) requests double and triple what we have,” Kuo said.

Compared to the other fees, SU ranks ninth out of 10. Only Northwestern is lower, but if the new fee becomes a reality, then SU would rise on the list from ninth to sixth. Boston University is the highest, charging $344 annually.

Two of the 12, New York University and Georgetown University, cannot be compared to because they do not mandate a separate activity fee. It is already bundled in the tuition.

“They could be viewed as our competition,” said Kevin Morrow, an SU spokesman.

Duke University ranks fifth with a yearly fee of $254. That fee includes the student activity and recreation fees, although if students do not provide their own insurance, they are required to pay another $347, according to the Duke Bursar office.

Duke’s Bursar, Marian Starnes, could not be reached for further comment.

At Northwestern, the money pool is currently spread too thin and is cheating programs that are “meritoriously deserving,” Kuo said.

“We have not been able to fund things that we want to fund because we don’t have the money,” Kuo said.

Published on January 28, 2002 at 12:00 pm