Though the Unite Party and Progress Party will be battling for office at the end of this month, they both agree that fighting against the implementation of block tuition is a top priority.
UF students will have the chance to voice their opinions on the issue during the Student Government elections on Feb. 22 and 23.
If implemented, block tuition would mean full-time students are charged a flat rate for 15 credit hours, no matter the actual number of credit hours taken.
Supervisor of Elections Amanda Griffin said the block tuition referendum is the only question on the ballot.
“I think that the opinion of the Student Body is already known, and it’s great that it’s on the ballot,” said Ben Meyers, the Unite Party candidate for Student Body president.
Meyers said he has long opposed block tuition and believes the Unite Party stands unanimously against it, too.
He said the next step, if students vote against the implementation, is to bring the votes to administration to show that students at UF stand together in opposition.
Griffin said that the referendum question was approved by the SG Supreme Court a couple of weeks ago.
Students for a Democratic Society, a group of student activists, submitted the question with a petition signed by 1,511 students.
According to SG election codes, a petition securing signature from no less than 2 percent of the Student Body, or 1,000 signatures for the 50,000 students at UF, is needed for a question to be put on the ballot.
Dave Schneider, a member of the group and the Progress Party candidate for Student Body president, said that he feels the ballot question is the next step to make administration hear the students’ voices.
“I feel very, very strongly that the only way we will ever get rid of block tuition is to get the Student Body to fight and get involved,” he said.
He said that it is the biggest issue students are dealing with now at UF and that they have a right to let administration know their opinion.
“It will always be the students who will really have the power to make change on campus,” he said.
