All the efforts of the Coalition for Undergraduate Student Government Reform over the past weeks have come full circle and now their efforts will potentially let every student have a voice. On Friday, March 27, an online vote will be conducted on whether undergraduate students will have to pay a $60 semester fee to help fund the Stroh Center starting in 2011. The vote will be online through students’ MyBGSU accounts and will commence for a 24-hour time period starting at midnight and ending Friday at 11:59 p.m. Voting ‘no’ means students do not want to repeal the resolution and agree with USG’s original decision to have future students pay the fee. Voting ‘yes’ means students do want to repeal the resolution and not have future students pay the $60 fees-essentially telling the University to find the $23 million deficit remaining of the $36 million project elsewhere. While the Coalition as a group is neither for or against the Stroh Center, the members were upset about the voting process and the lack of student opinions expressed regarding these fees, including having only 21 of the current 40 senators take part in the vote. Most of the absent senators were not able to vote due to not fulfilling their required office hours. This is why the group held a rally and acquired over 1,000 signatures through a petition, which was more than enough to put this issue on a ballot according to USG’s Constitution. ‘The rally was a gigantic success,’ founder of the Coalition Steve Currie said. ‘It was good for free speech and success in students getting involved.’ Currie said without having informed voters USG made the wrong choice initially, but now with his group, democracy can be attained. ‘Voter education is a very high priority. Not just to get people to know the facts so they can make an informed decision, but know when the referendum is and how to access the vote,’ he said. ‘We need to get people plugged in so they can have their voice heard,’ Currie said. Some USG members agree with Currie’s statements on enlightening students to vote. ‘We want to hear what the students have to say. This is a good thing to have,’ USG Chief Administrator Brandon Sallad said about the referendum. While Sallad agrees with the mentality of free speech, he still stands behind USG’s original resolution. ‘I do stick by USG’s vote because they are the governing body,’ Sallad said. While some students may think the issue is due to corruption within USG, the governing body does everything it, can to fully address the students needs, said Jill Carr, advisor to USG. ‘I have been advising USG for four years and never felt USG behaves unethically,’ Carr said. But having a group like the Coalition is not necessarily a bad thing to have on campus, she said. ‘We need mechanism in place when there is an outside group that says, wait a minute, we got a problem we don’t agree with what’s happening,’ Carr said. ‘I would support and encourage voicing your opinions if you feel your opinions were not heard enough because we want to hear them,’ Sallad said. More details about the vote will be made public early next week as press conferences and rallies will be organized to help students be educated on the vote. The Coalition will also try and organize a town hall type meeting where they will invite administrators, including President Carol Cartwright to answer questions students have on the funding of the Stroh Center.