| For at least the past thirty years, administrators at public institutions of higher education, and their legal counsel, have faced legal challenges to campus mandatory student activity fee policies. For some, litigation has been protracted, has produced conflicting rulings, and leas suggested standards that lack clear definition. Today, many campus policy-makers seem to be searching for direction. There was hope that the United States Supreme Court ruling on fee constitutionality in the Spring of 2000 would offer clear legal direction; however, in the wake of that decision, policy-makers still seem, to be looking for guidance. The purpose of this study is to ascertain the impact of that Supreme Court ruling on the landscape of public higher education.; Chief student affairs officers at public, Association of American Universities (AAU) institutions were surveyed for policy history, current practice, and future vision through the use of a written questionnaire employing descriptive statistics. Model fee policy, discerned from "right" practices and principles, is recommended so as to assist student activity fee administrators in maintaining the educational benefit of student activities without violating students' First Amendment rights or creating financial or administrative burdens. Hopefully, the results will assist in the understanding of successes, challenges, and future possibilities for mandatory fee policy. |
