Senate Approval Sends SUPERB Referendum to Spring Ballot

The ASUC Senate passed a bill Wednesday night to approve a referendum proposing a $4.50 increase of student registration fees to help fund student entertainment group SUPERB.

If passed by students in this spring's elections, the referendum would raise undergraduate and graduate student registration fees by $4.50 to create a new fund for SUPERB's operating budget.

SUPERB officials said they are optimistic about the resources the new funds could provide if the referendum passed.

"We will be able to bring in bigger artists, bigger comedians and really expand the threshold of what we can do," said SUPERB general manager Eugene Chow.

Under the referendum, the amount of money currently allocated by the ASUC Senate to SUPERB would become part of the ASUC operating budget and would go to fund events such as Spring Welcome Week and the Activism Right There festival, said Student Action Senator Scott Silver.

A similar referendum was placed on the ballot last year calling for a student fee increase for SUPERB and a number of other groups, but ultimately failed.

Officials said the group has faced a tight budget, prompting the need for additional funds.

"In the past six years, budget cuts have taken away 42 percent of the original SUPERB funding," Chow said. "We've had to scale back on the entertainment we provide. Where we used to be able to screen 10 films a semester, now we can only show five films."

SUPERB is the umbrella organization for entertainment on campus. Approximately 24,000 students every year attend SUPERB events, Chow said.

Student Action Senator Lisa Patel said other UC system schools such as UCLA, UC Riverside and UC Santa Barbara have already passed similar referenda to raise funds for student entertainment groups.

"It is designed to offer students the best entertainment at the lowest price," she said.

Chow said that if the referendum passes, part of the money raised will go toward funding entertainment events tailored specifically for graduate students at Berkeley.

"Graduate students often focus very much on their departments," he said. "SUPERB will use our expertise to book bands, comedians and expand the services that will fit into the grad student model."

The referendum will be on the ballot for the ASUC elections on April 8-10.

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