“An optional fee hurts students because it allows for free-riding and is ineligible for financial aid coverage, but the student body voted to retain that choice and I’ll stand by that decision,” Mahan wrote. “I think that time will prove that a mandatory fee makes more sense for everyone.”

This year, 92 percent of students paid the voluntary $35 fee.

POWER PLAY

After the referendum, the fee increase required the support of the Faculty Council, which advises Dean of the Faculty William C. Kirby and the full Faculty.

In its final meeting last month, the Faculty Council unanimously approved a plan proposed by Mahan, which recommended implementing the fee hike over two years, with a $60 fee set for the 2004-2005 academic year and a $75 fee to follow a year later.

While the student referendum made no mention of a phase-in, Dean of the College Benedict H. Gross ’71 said that he recommended that Mahan draw up a proposal that had a greater chance of garnering the Faculty Council’s approval.  

“I...told him that I thought it was unlikely that the Council would approve an increase to $75 immediately,” Gross wrote in an e-mail.

Mahan characterized such a move as the “most responsible approach.”

“After speaking with many students, considering the potential structural changes that we may want to undertake, and taking into account political feasibility of asking for a one-time, lump-sum increase, I felt it was most prudent to personally recommend a two-year phase in,” he wrote.

But his proposal for a phase-in drew fire from council representatives, as he announced his intentions only a night before the Faculty Council meeting and did not discuss the change with the council as a whole.

The Lowell delegation of council members—comprised of Aaron D. Chadbourne ’06, Polly W. Klyce ’06 and Teo P. Nicolais ’06—expressed their disapproval in an e-mail to the Lowell House open list.

And while council members generally supported the phase-in recommendation, some said they found fault with Mahan’s handling of the situation.  

“I don’t agree with the way it was approached,” Nicolais says, “[But] the idea was right.”

But council representative P.K. Agarwalla ’04 said he thought the phase-in approach did not reflect the wishes of the student body.

“Students didn’t vote for a $60 dollar phase-in, they voted for a $75 increase [and] there was no consultation with the council,” Agarwalla said.  

—Staff writer Margaret W. Ho can be reached at mwho@fas.harvard.edu.