Editors of the Mosaic, Nicholls’ literary magazine, editors are in the process of getting approval to place a referendum on the spring ballot that could increase students’ fees by 30 cents.The Mosaic has been published since 1979. In 1981, the English department no longer had the funds to continue printing the magazine, so it decided to go to the students for financial support.

“They (the English department) had a big campaign,” Jackie Jackson, languages and literature instructor, said. “They went to different organizations on campus for support. An overwhelming majority voted to fund it, and it was 20 cents (added to fall and spring fees).”

Jackson said that students currently pay 20 cents in both their fall and spring fees for the Mosaic, but sponsors of the Mosaic are trying to increase the fee by 30 more cents for a total of 50 cents per semester.

“We did have a few people who objected to any kind of increase, and I can understand that,” Jackson said. “Students are paying these fees. This is only 30 cents, though. Who’s going to notice paying 30 more cents?”

Lauren Cenac, co-editor for the Mosaic and English junior from Houma, said that the revenue the Mosaic is currently receiving is not enough to cover the budget.

“All the 20 cents covers is the editors’ small scholarships and the publishing,” Cenac said. “The 20 cents in 1981 was enough money, so we were having a good bit of extra money. It (the money) was rolling over to the following year.”

According to Jackson, sponsors for the Mosaic have gone to the Student Government Association Senate to put the proposal on a ballot. The Senate voted in favor of putting it on a ballot.

“We asked the SGA if the students could vote on it,” Jackson said. “They decided that, yes, they would.”

Now that the SGA has given approval of the proposal, the Nicholls Finance Department and the Board of Supervisors must also approve it, according to Jackson.

“We still have two more big steps before we can even put it on the ballot,” Jackson said. “It’s a long process.”

If both the Nicholls Finance Department and the Board of Supervisors approve the proposal, the ballot will be out sometime next semester for students to vote for or against the 30-cent increase.

“We want to be able to get a student vote and see if the students want the magazine,” Cenac said.

Cenac said that the last few years the Mosaic has had a color cover and the money to do that was taken out of the extra money that was rolling over from previous semesters.

“That just got rid of anything extra we had, so after that we just pretty much went into debt,” Cenac said. “We’re just running out of money.”

The 20 cents per semester that the Mosaic receives from students is the least out of every other organization on campus, according to Cenac.

“Just to put this in perspective, we don’t get any money from the summer,” Cenac said. “Each student pays about 30 dollars for student organizations with their fees, and the Mosaic only gets 20 cents from that. That’s not a lot.”

If the students vote in favor of the increase, it will be added to the fall 2006 fees.

“Nobody likes to ask for more money,” Jackson said. “We’re going to go to the students and explain to them why we want this increase. It’s such a small amount, and it’s so necessary. Even though it’s maybe 30 people who’ve contributed, it’s really for the 2,000 people who will get to read it.”

Cenac said that this year the English department will cut down in every area of the Mosaic to save money. The total copies of the Mosaic and number of pages in the Mosaic are going to decrease. The cover will be one color, and the small scholarships the editors are given, as their pay, will also suffer.

“We usually do 64 pages, and now we’re going to do 56,” Jackson said. “Now instead of 2,000 copies, we’re only printing 1,500.”

To meet the budget for the Mosaic, the editors have decided to sell advertisements to put in the magazine, according to Jackson. They have estimated to raise $500 in ads. They already have $555 from the fall fees and are estimating $1,100 from the spring fees. This leaves the English department with $2,155 to publish the magazine.

If the proposal for the increase does not pass, Cenac said the magazine would continue to be under the tight budget that it is under now.

“We could still publish the magazine as long as we have those donations,” Cenac said.