Representatives from Student Government Associations of Kansas Board of Regents (KBOR) schools defended a student referendum — or vote — against a KBOR proposal on Wednesday in Topeka.

The proposal would have lobbied the State congress to eliminate a student referendum on raising tuition or student fees for campus construction projects. Even if a referendum is used, KBOR can still act against a student vote to push projects through.

While it does gauge student opinion, SGA At-Large Senator Nick French, said he thought the referendum misrepresented what the vote was doing.

“When people vote on something, you feel like you’re in control,” he said. “I would feel badly if the students had felt like they had the final say in their money.”

French was the only vote against a resolution that supported the referendum. The other KBOR schools — Kansas State, the University of Kansas, Pittsburg State, Emporia State and Fort Hays State — passed resolutions unanimously.

He said KBOR and the student referendum usually are in concordance, but he feared that if the vote was ever acted against, students would be upset. He also said that fees are likely to increase regardless due to the ambitious plan University President John Bardo has for WSU.

“With all of the things that are happening … those fees are going to end up happening anyways,” French said.

SGA At-Large Senator Jonathan Dennill said even though KBOR can act against a student referendum, he’d rather see the student voice heard out — especially with the future plans for WSU.

“We’d like to have our voices have a strong podium instead of just going away,” he said. “[It’s] especially important with these next few years.”

SGA President Matthew Conklin is a part of the Student Advisory Committee (SAC), along with the other SGA presidents from KBOR schools. He said the amendment in the proposal first piqued SAC’s interest because of its ambiguity.

Conklin said he thinks the wording was intentional, and the decision to increase student fees would be made with consultation with student leadership, which he said was vague.

K-State SGA President Reagan Kays, who also acts as SAC chair, agreed.

“It speaks quite heavily,” he said.

Kays put the issue in the agenda for last month, which gave the KBOR schools about a month to organize against the proposal. Passing resolutions was a major piece of that, he said.

“It was really reassuring,” Kayes said.

SGA at WSU had the only dissenting opinion of any of the KBOR schools. Conklin said this meant that SGA heard both viewpoints.

“It shows, at least at our Senate, the dissenting opinion was heard and evaluated by all the senators here,” he said.

Kays said, “It’s good that it’s not just a group-think.”

French said he didn’t feel pressure to agree with his peers, and said other legislators probably feel the same.

“I think a difference in opinion … is a good thing to have,” he said. “That’s one concern people have with student government — when one hand goes up, all the rest do.”

While KBOR did take the removal of the referendum out of their proposal after seeing SGA resolutions and hearing their opinion, Wade Robinson, vice president of Student Affairs, said he doesn’t know if this is what changed their mind.

“What influenced their decision-making, I have no idea,” he said.

KBOR members were not available for comment Sunday evening.