Petition against a bSpace fee at UC Berkeley

We want to express our opposition to the Berkeley campus proposal to add a new Course Material and Services Fee (CMSF) for instructional technology, primarily bSpace (the "bSpace fee").

- In proposing this fee, Berkeley is stretching, if not outright violating, the UC policy on CMSF. Course Material and Services Fees should only be charged for costs associated with specific courses (e.g. art supplies, field trip costs), and are only paid by students who choose to take these special courses. The bSpace fee will be applied equally to every student, across the board ($16/undergraduate, $13/graduate).

- The fee will be the same no matter how many classes you take, or how many of those use bSpace (even if none of them use bSpace at all).

- On a broader point of view, it is outrageous to propose this fee to students who are already bearing a 32\% Education Fee increase for 2010-2011. Why pay $10,000 for an "Education Fee" when educational services such as bSpace are not covered?

- This represents a dangerous precedent: should the campus then start charging separate fees for other educational support services, such as the library or academic advising, that are at least as important as bSpace?