As NIU wades through a budget crisis, a proposed flat 25-cent activity fee increase for undergraduate students came under scrutiny at the President’s Fee Study Committee meeting Monday.

Also under the proposal, graduate student activity fees will surge 18 cents and a 10-cent hike will be considered for law students.

In a 40-minute session with considerably mild deliberation, committee members listened passively to figures presented by Student Association Treasurer Mike Holy.

“Since student organizations requested a record amount last year, we felt as a committee that there has to be (programming) expansion,” Holy said.

According to a memo released by Michelle Emmett, director of University Programming and Activities, 17 percent of the proposed increases will go to start-up funds for new activities.

But the idea of more programming during the current budget crunch brought accountancy professor John Engstrom to question the timeliness of the move.

“The expansion is in the proposal stage, made by a committee comprised of some SA members,” responded Ann Kaplan, executive assistant to NIU President John La Tourette.

Joy Pauschke, associate dean for the College of Engineering

inquired about certain program expansion requests such as the $200 solicitation made by BROTHERS to sponsor a “Mr. Black NIU contest.”

“I’m not quite sure what that (the contest) entails,”said Holy, adding he wants “to make it clear that these are just proposals.”

Other topics of discussion included concerns raised about students with disabilities, especially prospective modifications on campus phones to assist the hearing-impaired.