NevadaFIT, the University of Nevada, Reno’s mandatory “academic success boot camp” for incoming freshman, riled up senators on Oct. 16 at a meeting of the senate of the Associated Students of the University of Nevada. Two university staff members who run the program visited the table and discussed plans to charge participants even more to attend.
The controversy around the women’s volleyball team and their hotly criticized push to forfeit a match against San Jose State, a school thought to have a transgender player on their roster, also reached the senate table. Both a concerned public commenter and ASUN’s vice president addressed the issue.
Worry about discrimination against trans students; ASUN declines to take a stance
A public commenter, who identified herself as a trans woman in her remarks, asked senators to pass a resolution of support for transgender students and athletes, and rebuke what she argued were discriminatory actions from the women’s volleyball team.
The team first publicly announced they would forfeit the match against San Jose State, after which Nevada Athletics announced the match would go on as scheduled. Players were then allowed not to play in the match without any penalties, resulting in the game being canceled due to a “lack of players.”
“I sit before you today deeply concerned about recent events that have unfolded in our athletic community,” the commenter told senators. “The women’s volleyball players’ decision to forfeit a match…is not just a mere act of protest, it is a stark manifestation of discrimination that undermines the very values that our institution holds dear.”
Liesel Kemmelmeier, ASUN’s vice president, brought up the situation in her regular officer report, deferring to guidelines from the National College Athletics Association that the player in question would have already met in order to be able to play on a women’s team. Kemmelmeier made reference to the need to “foster a sense of belonging for all students on this campus,” but declined to condemn the team’s actions as discriminatory.
“Our goal is to ensure that every voice is heard and to create opportunities for us to come together to address challenges,” Kemmelmeier said, offering no strong position on the issue.
No other ASUN senators or officers brought it up, nor had any resolution on the matter been presented as of two weeks later on Oct. 30.
Want to start college at UNR? That’ll be about $600
NevadaFIT charged a $250 special course fee this year on top of the regular registration for the 1-credit class, $281 for Nevada residents and $309 for nonresidents. Next year, however, that special course fee could go up to $300. Incoming freshmen are required to participate in NevadaFIT in order to attend the university.
Senators, as well as two public commenters, expressed their opposition to the fee increase, only to discover during the presentation that the Student Fees Committee had already approved it. Now it’s headed to the Board of Regents, the Nevada System of Higher Education’s governing body in December.
If the regents approve the fee increase, less than a week of NevadaFIT could cost freshmen upwards of $600.
Kemmelmeier, who sits on the Student Fees Committee, said she only approved the fee increase on the condition that the senate get a presentation about it. ASUN’s director of campus wellness, Harely Gurrero, also sits on the committee and voted the same way.
Kemmelmeier defended her decision to questioning senators.
“The primary reason is they had addressed to us that they had already made the cuts that they planned to make,” Kemmelmeier said.
Brianne Chambers, director of NevadaFIT, told senators that the money was needed to keep students fed through the program and to more competitively pay mentors, who are current sophomore-and-up students hired to accompany NevadaFIT participants through all their daily activities.
Carmina Aglubat, a senator for the College of Liberal Arts, criticized the stacks of merchandise handed out by her college as wasteful spending coming out of the NevadaFIT budget.
“I really don’t see students using the merchandise that the College of Liberal Arts is giving them,” Aglubat said. “I’m just curious to know how much we’re spending on this merchandise that students won’t use or won’t see the light of day outside their closet.”
Kelsea Frobes, senator for the Reynolds School of Journalism, said they should get rid of the NevadaFIT shirts given to every participant — totaling 4000, plus mentors, according to Chambers’ participant count from the presentation. Frobes pointed out that wearing the shirt after NevadaFIT will get you made fun of.
“I don’t think that we’re doing frivolous spending at central with the t-shirt and the lanyard,” Chambers said.
Reviving the Department of Programming with a new director?
Railyn Krentz, previously a programmer for the Department of Programming, gave the senate her bid to run the department.
The Department of Programming manages and promotes ASUN’s special events and has recently seen low staffing and serious turnover. Two assistant directors had just resigned ahead of the Oct. 16 meeting, citing a negative work environment.
Krentz said her top goals were retention and hiring, positive culture and outreach to the campus community. Senators confirmed her unanimously.
Peregrine Hart can be reached via email at peregrineh@unr.edu or on Instagram @pintofperegrine.
