Bill to Reform the Special Fees Refunds Process UGS-W2011 Author(s): Michael Cruz (President of the Association), Brianna

Pang (Chair of the Appropriations Committee), Rafael Vazquez (Chair of Undergraduate Senate) Co-Sponsor(s): Addy Satija (Co-chair of Graduate Student Council), Anne-Laure Cuvilliez (Chair of the GSC Funding Committee), Adeel Arif (Deputy Chair of the GSC Funding Committee), Undergraduate Senate Appropriations Committee, Undergraduate Senate Administration and Rules Committee Date Submitted: May 11, 2011 Action Requested: 2/3 Approval by the Legislative Bodies WHEREAS USB_W10_02, which changed Appendix I, Section 4.E(16) of the Joint ByLaws, did not achieve its goal of substantially reducing the refund rate or the total size of the Special Fee, but did result in an increased number of Special Fee petitions and, WHEREAS it is the duty of the Appropriations Committee / Funding Committee of the Undergraduate Senate and the Graduate Student Council, respectively, to ensure the fiscal stability of Stanford student life and act as an intermediary between the students and collective funds, and WHEREAS the GSC and Undergraduate Senate should ensure that their policies are in sync with one another, and WHEREAS students requesting refunds should realize the weight of their actions on student groups reliant on special fees, and WHEREAS requiring students to provide explanation to why they choose to request refunds from groups will be beneficial for groups to better understand how to improve their services, and WHEREAS the Office of General Counsel has reviewed the language that student will need to confirm before submitting their request for a refund, THERFORE BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATIVE BODIES OF THE ASSOCIATION: THAT the Article VI, Section 7.D.1 (e) and Article VI, Section 7.D.1 (f) of the Joint ByLaws of the Association be struck and replaced with the following: A. All students requesting a refund shall be made aware of the following language before submitting their request:

I understand that by obtaining this refund I may be deprived of some or all of the services offered by this student organization [as per the ASSU Constitution]. I understand that the student organization's president, financial officer and its other key officers will be given access to my name, SU ID number and SUNet ID. This information will only be used to determine if I received a refund and thus would be ineligible for access to their group's programs and services. B. All students requesting a refund shall be required to provide an answer as to the reason for their refund. This information will be used to provide an explanation as to why they choose to receive a refund from a particular group. All students must answer the following question. : i. I chose to refund from this group because [check all that apply]: 1. I cannot afford this amount because this student fee will be a significant financial burden 2. I am morally and ethically opposed to this groups mission 3. I do not find value from this group 4. Other [Space for the answer] C. On the first day of each academic quarter, the Financial Manager shall send an email to the President(s) and Financial Officer(s) of each group receiving a Special Fee that shall state that their group is eligible to receive the name, SU ID number and SUNet ID of each student that refunded from their group, in addition to any other information made publicly available in the Governing Documents of the Association. D. After receiving this email, the President(s) and/or Financial Officer(s) of student organizations requesting data shall contact the Financial Manager and request all or part of the following data: 1. A spreadsheet containing the name, SU ID number and SUNet ID of each student who refunded from their group in the current academic year/quarter, along with the list of explanations of why the student chose to refund. 2. Aggregate Survey data (as detailed in Article VI, Section 7.D.1 (c) of these Joint By-Laws) 3. The refund rates for the current academic quarter. D. The refund amount for a group shall be defined as the total amount of quarterly refunds for the group. If this amount exceeds the Refund Cost Surcharge collected for that group for that quarter for that population, the group shall be financially responsible for covering that excess. 1. Joint groups shall have two independent refund amounts. The Graduate refund amount shall be defined as the total amount of quarterly refunds obtained by Graduate students for the group. The Undergraduate refund amount shall be defined as the total amount of quarterly refunds obtained by Undergraduate students for the group. 2. In the event of an excess refund amount, the Financial Manager is authorized to collect that amount from the groups accounts in the following order:
i.

i. Fee Reserves ii. Operating Budgets iii. All other assets as specified in the contract signed prior to being placed on the ballot E. The Funding Manager shall make the President(s), Financial Officer(s) and key officer(s) of the student organization requesting refund information aware of the private nature of the data, and shall take all reasonable precautions to ensure the security of the data, preventing its spread beyond authorized users. Release of this data beyond these authorized users may be considered a violation of the Fundamental Standard or Governing Documents of the Association. The student(s) whose privacy rights are infringed upon may have standing to file a case with an appropriate University and/or Associated Students of Stanford University judicial body. F. Only the President(s), Financial Officer(s) and key officer(s) of the student organization can use the information provided. The information can only be used for the purposes of denying participation in the groups services. G. The President(s), Financial Officer(s) and key officer(s) are defined as those officially registered by the Associated Students of Stanford University.