Trustees OK assessment fee increase for student media support

KALAMAZOO—In a vote taken April 18, the Western Michigan University Board of Trustees approved a $5 per-semester increase in the University's Student Assessment Fee to provide funding to support student media at WMU.

The fee will be effective with the beginning of the Summer II session, which begins June 27. The fee increase for summer sessions is $2.50 per session.

The fee increase was initiated by students and was the subject of a campuswide vote organized by the Western Student Association in March. A total of 1,348 students voted in the election, and 63 percent of them voted to increase the fee. The money raised by the increased fee will support campus media that includes, but is not limited to, the Western Herald student newspaper; a student-run campus radio station, WIDR; and a student media organization called Young Broadcasters of Tomorrow that is producing short video news features for the campus.