The Fee Advisory Committee voted Thursday to recommend fee increases of $72.20, slightly below the 6.5 percent cap of $73.78, but higher than what students voted for in the fee referenda.

About 3,400 students voted in the fee referenda and, based on average votes, they supported a general fee increase of $60.01.

The system the fee committee used this semester was centered on groups that supported fee increases making video presentations, and Tom Stafford, vice chancellor for student affairs, said because only 149 students viewed the videos online, there was not an informed electorate.

“I don’t think [the video system] was very successful,” he said.

To watch all 12 videos would take a student up to three hours, Stafford said, and “the average student is not going to take the time to do that.”

The best way for the fee committee to work, he said, is for the groups that propose fee increases to come before the committee as they have before, to have an open dialogue acknowledging any questions and concerns.

Greg Doucette, Student Senate president and senior in computer science, pushed for the creation of the video system, which was put together by Leslie Dare, director of student affairs for distance education and technology services.

“Only one half of one percent of 30,000 students went to the

According to Dare, 96 percent of students did not have the video information necessary to vote on fee increases, but she said the process was beneficial.

“It’s worth having that information available in a format that appeals to students,” she said.

The videos “provide a good forum in which to share information with stduents,” Dare said. “It was more efficient because those people didn’t have to present before multiple groups.”

According to Doucette, to invalidate the fee referenda based on a lack of informed voters would invalidate any major election.

“You’ll never have everybody informed,” he said. “You counteract a lack of information across the board by increasing the number of people who vote.”

This was the first time that the Leader of the Pack elections were on the same ballot as the fee referendums, and Doucette had said organizers hoped students who had voted for fee referendums in the past and Leader of the Pack would add to a greater amount of voters.

Austin Rhodes, a sophomore in business management, said the setup for the ballot was simple, and he voted because he knew someone who was in the running for Leader of the Pack.

“I picked and chose what to vote for and what not to vote for,” he said. “I didn’t vote for everything.”

Doucette made a presentation at the beginning of the meeting, with the information from the fee referendums.

“This year we had a much more broad cross-section of the student body,” Doucette said.

Before voting, the fee committee responded to questions from those in attendance, and also made a move to change the ballot on which it voted.

Provost Larry Nielsen had moved to have academic fees, or the Education and Technology fee and the International Scholarship fee, separate from non-academic fees.

“The natures of the fees that are associated with the academic experience and non-academic experience are very different,” Nielsen said.

Stafford made a motion to combine the two different types of fees, because separating them on the ballot would reduce the voters’ flexibility, and he voted for increasing only fees that were in the non-academic category.

He said he wasn’t opposed to the other fees, as if there was not a 6.5 percent cap he would choose to increase all the fees by their proposed increase amount, but the system-instituted cap forced those on the committee to choose which fees they supported the most.

The committee rejected funding for two new fees, the International Scholarship fee and the Sustainability fee.

It was unfair to make all students pay a fee for a study abroad program, Doucette said, since not all students have the option of studying abroad.

The two indebtedness fees, which are not subject to the 6.5 percent cap, were increased by substantially more than other fees, with the Athletics indebtedness fee rising $30 from $66, and the new Carmichael Complex indebtedness fee getting $23.