In the largest student referendum in SGA’s history last week, the majority of UNA students voted against the university’s proposal to make the jump to Division I athletics.

The referendum, which resulted in 1,774 student votes, brought in 58 percent of voters that opposed and 42 percent that supported D-I. The UNA Board of Trustees will meet March 14 to review the complete results and make a final decision about the Division I move.

“I am very happy that students came out to vote,” said SGA President Cory Hamilton. “I hope that the Board will take everything into consideration, especially the students because the burden of paying for D-I will be placed mostly on them.”

The survey was open to all UNA students Feb. 7-9 and brought in around 25 percent of the student population, with 6,758 students enrolled this semester.

Students were asked whether they would support a $125-150 athletic fee increase, which would be implemented in fall 2011 if UNA goes to Division I. The survey found that 546 students would support a fee increase, while 1,214 would not. Seventy-three percent of students said they would prefer an incremental fee increase over time.

Students who voted against the fee increase were asked to enter the monetary amount they were willing to pay if UNA goes to D-I and the average amount was $24.50 out of the 1,069 respondents.

Ashley Richardson, a UNA student who voted no in last week’s student referendum, believes the move to Division I athletics would not benefit the university.

“I think it would be a very bad decision on UNA’s part because the athletic fee will go up,” she said. “For kids who don’t really care about sports and aren’t involved in athletics, they’ll still have to pay that fee. If I wanted to go to a D-1 school, I would have gone to a D-1 school. A lot of people are happy with how UNA is now and don’t want it to have to change.”

UNA student Evan Underwood will graduate before any significant changes take place at UNA if the university goes D-I, but still voted yes to support the possible move.

“The main reason I voted yes was not really based on reasons concerning athletics,” said UNA student Evan Underwood. “It concerns the degree you would get at UNA. From my understanding, the degree would travel better and take on a form of prestige because the school would be more well-known throughout the country with UNA being in a larger division.”