WLUSU board looks to amend fee error

BRANTFORD, Ont. — The collection of an incidental student fee was the main item on the agenda as the Wilfrid Laurier University Students’ Union met Friday afternoon at Laurier’s Brantford Campus.

The sustainability fee, which is a five-dollar incidental fee that funds Laurier’s sustainability office, was approved in a referendum question during the 2009 WLUSU election. The fee was first collected in the fall of 2009, however, it was only charged to students at the Waterloo campus, not those at Laurier Brantford.

According to board chair Chris Walker, this was because the sustainability fee replaced an existing “green fee” which only existed on the Waterloo campus. Walker chalked this up to a “communication error” with the university.

WLUSU president and CEO Nick Gibson added that the majority of the vote was in favour of the referendum on both campuses.

To correct the issue, the board approved a motion to begin implementing the fee on Laurier Brantford students in the fall of 2012. They also approved a motion that will see Walker in charge of reviewing every referendum question from the past six WLUSU elections to ensure they are being properly implemented.

For more on this story, see Wednesday’s edition of The Cord