The UB Council went on the record on Tuesday in opposing an effort in the state Legislature to limit student fees to 15 percent of tuition.

President William R. Greiner said the cap could cost UB more than $12 million a year in funds used to support information technology, athletics, transportation and student health services-severely hampering the university's ability to provide these services.

Council members unanimously approved a resolution opposing companion bills making their way through the Senate and Assembly that would limit fees at state-operated campuses to 15 percent of tuition. The cap would be phased in over three years, with limits of 25 percent being imposed the first year, 20 percent the second year and 15 percent the third.

With fees for undergraduates totaling $595 per semester for the current academic year, the legislation, if approved, would limit the amount UB could charge undergraduates in fees to $255 a semester at the current tuition rate of $3,400 a year, according to figures supplied by Dennis Black, vice president for student affairs.

Greiner told council members that, "in principle," UB has no particular objection to capping fees, "if the state was willing to supply an alternative source of revenue, but there is no indication of that." Without the funds generated through student fees, UB has "no visible means of supporting" these student services, he said.

Fees charged to students fund a variety of support services, including health services, counseling, disability services, wellness, parking and transportation, information technology, student union and activities and athletics, including intercollegiate athletics, open recreation and intramural sports.

UB has increased the fee each of the past three years-by $80 a semester in 1998-99, $72.50 a semester in 1999-2000 and $30 in 2000-01-primarily to cover the university's investment in technology.

In addition to opposing the fee cap, the resolution approved by the council "recommends that the legislature seriously address the issue of a regular and predictable tuition policy to ensure the maintenance of a quality public higher education system for the overall economic well being of the State of New York."

Undergraduate tuition has remained at $3,400 for the past six years, and Gov. George Pataki does not recommend an increase in his executive budget for 2001-02.

In other business, the council unanimously approved naming the Cecil and Violet Newton Center for Instructional Technology in the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences.