Hundreds of names and signatures have been scrutinized this week. Do they represent registered UC Davis students? Is the same student represented only once?

If 1,500 of those signatures pass muster with the election committee of the Associated Students of UC Davis, students will be asked on a November ballot to assess themselves additional fees in support of millions of dollars in projects - including the proposed move to Division I athletics.

The projects on the ballot of the ASUCD's fall election Nov. 12 to 14 include athletic grants-in-aid for Division I competition, a new student health center, a student services facility, a Coffee House expansion, Unitrans improvements, and increased funding for intramural and club sports.

If undergraduate voters support all the projects, the Campus Ex-pansion Initiative would result in additional quarterly fees beginning at $20 next academic year and rising to $132 by 2006-07and $173 by 2008-09. A California resident enrolled as an undergraduate currently pays $1,544.50 a quarter, including $228.50 in support of various student services and facilities.

"These are dramatic choices that could affect the campus for decades to come," says Bob Franks, associate vice chancellor for student affairs, who has worked closely with student leaders on the ballot initiative.

• formal invitation to join the Big West Conference of the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I is expected shortly after Dateline's press deadline. Franks says the campus has a rare opportunity to consider a move to the higher-ranked competition. NCAA rules require the campus to declare by Dec. 15 its intention to explore the move and then decide by June 30 whether it will accept the Big West's invitation.

Students are being asked to support the move with $4 million a year in grants-in-aid for student athletes. If the campus accepts the offer to join Division I, students would be assessed $15 beginning next fall and $61 by 2006-07. When fully implemented, in 2006-07, the Division I portion of the initiative fees would be annually adjusted according to the Consumer Price Index. Students would continue to have free admission to regular season home games.

"On Division I, we really have to look into the future and where we want to be in the next few years," says ASUCD President C.S. Lai, one of about 50 student volunteers who have been collecting signatures in support of the initiative.

Competing in Division I would cost an estimated $5.5 million a year, and the administration would pay the remaining $1.5 million for the salaries of teacher-coaches and other operating expenses. Additional funding could come from ticket sales and donors.

"This program will not survive a move to Division I - with its core values intact - unless the students provide the foundational funding," says Franks.

On the other hand, he says, a "Yes" vote would not necessarily commit the campus to joining Division I. "It's a continuing process of discussion and consultation," he says, adding that the campus will be consulting faculty and staff members, alumni and others about Division I. And should the campus decide against moving to Division I, it would not collect the additional fees for grants-in-aid authorized by a "Yes" vote.

Franks and Lai say the other projects will provide additional services and facilities to help meet the needs of a growing student body.

In concurrent votes, all graduate and professional students will decide whether to raise their fees to support the new student health center. Graduate students will vote on three additional questions asking for support for the student services center, intramural and club sports, and the Graduate Student Association's operating budget. With passage of the health center and the three other votes, their fees would increase a total of $85.50 by 2008-09.

In all, the ballots ask UC Davis students to vote on support for capital projects with preliminary estimates totaling more than $56 million and others with annual costs of more than $4.1 million.

Information sessions about all the projects will be held from noon to 3 p.m. Monday in the East Conference Room of the Memorial Union. Campus health care will be the focus of another session from noon to 3 p.m. Tuesday, also in the East Conference Room. A third session will be held from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday in the Coffee House.

Among the projects:

• About $39 million would be used to build and maintain a new student health center to meet the needs of a growing student body. The facility would permit advancements in outpatient health-care delivery through the expansion and coordination of treatment areas; modernization of electronic and mechanical systems; and changes in clinic layout to improve confidentiality, privacy and access for persons with disabilities.
• A proposed "Principles of Community Center" would bring together several student services that focus on campus community and student life. Estimated to cost about $9.6 million, the facility would provide space for the work of student interns and volunteers, meetings, and departmental offices.

Lai says student centers such as the Cross-Cultural Center and the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Resource Center would make their own decisions about being located in the new facility. "It's an idea that's going to take a lot of student input," he says.

• An estimated $6 million in capital improvements to the Coffee House aims to increase seating capacity, improve customer service and add menu choices.
• An additional $2 million for Unitrans would be used to buy new buses, construct a terminal at the Silo and provide matching funds to leverage federal grants.
• The equivalent of 28 percent of each project, or almost $2.7 million, would be collected and returned to financial aid to offset fees for students in need.

Some student groups have criticized the undergraduate initiative because it groups disparate projects - the athletic scholarships, Principles of Community Center, Coffee House expansion, Unitrans improvements, and funding for intramural and club sports - under one vote.

Only the health center would be voted on separately.

Lai says the five projects were grouped to build support for them all. "We all have an issue we support," he says. "We're trying to build a sense of community. We're either going to win together or lose together," adds Lai.

Franks says the vote on the new student health center is separate because it's the only question on which all students would vote.

The first part of the undergraduate initiative, which groups the five projects together, requires a voting pool of 3,745 students, and the question on support for a new student health center requires a voter turnout of 4,593 undergraduate, graduate and professional students. Both require a simple majority to pass, and neither would be binding on the campus administration.

More details are available at http://ballotinformation.ucdavis.edu.