2008 Woodie Awards
Politics is the world we live in
Tara Holloway
Issue date: 4/23/08 Section: Opinion
It is almost the end of Spring 2008 here at Humboldt State University. Graduation is just down the road (Congratulations to all graduates!), and as students are finishing up their semester assignments, exams, and projects I know this time is not ideal for asking any more of your time. Unfortunately, the governmental and procedural structures that surround us work on a different calendar, the fiscal year which ends on the last day of June. The influence these organizations (the state of California, the CSU system, the HSU President and Vice President's offices, etc.) have on the individual student is monumental, and I write to the student paper now to provide you with information.
Like in years past, HSU is scrambling to find ways to mediate the impact of the state budget crisis on our small community. Once again, an idea is being brought forward, and seeks to put the brunt of this financial burden on the students' backs. Currently, the University Center Board has been asked to break commercial services (Bookstore, Dining, and CenterArts/concerts) into its own entrepreneurial committee to make money for the University. I am writing not to deny that this plan may help to fund the University's budgetary deficits. Rather, I speak to the methods being used.
As with past financial and University-wide issues (the construction of the gates, the decision to rapidly raise parking fees, the IRA fee increase of over 200 percent as some examples), the decision of the HSU president to disclose this plan of action in April is disrespectful to any type of shared governance assumed or guaranteed on this campus.
I implore students to not only be active in your own fee-based student government (by participating in the A.S. Elections April 22-24th), but to also utilize the systems and structures we already have in place to speak out about the treatment we have been receiving for the past several years.
While politics at nearly all levels within the United States are imperfect, they are nevertheless the established way to "get things done," and having knowledgeable students to navigate these systems is crucial to maintaining student interests (and student pocketbooks) here at HSU. Utilize your current representatives and UC Board members, (who are: Noelle Perlmutter, Crystal Chaney, Constance Mitchell, Terra Rentz, and Anondah Saide to name a few) to best have your perspective addressed as A.S. Council and the UC Board discuss the potential benefits and repercussions of University Center reorganization. You are paying over $90 each semester for your student union (the UC), and your input on this decision is wanted.
Like in years past, HSU is scrambling to find ways to mediate the impact of the state budget crisis on our small community. Once again, an idea is being brought forward, and seeks to put the brunt of this financial burden on the students' backs. Currently, the University Center Board has been asked to break commercial services (Bookstore, Dining, and CenterArts/concerts) into its own entrepreneurial committee to make money for the University. I am writing not to deny that this plan may help to fund the University's budgetary deficits. Rather, I speak to the methods being used.
As with past financial and University-wide issues (the construction of the gates, the decision to rapidly raise parking fees, the IRA fee increase of over 200 percent as some examples), the decision of the HSU president to disclose this plan of action in April is disrespectful to any type of shared governance assumed or guaranteed on this campus.
I implore students to not only be active in your own fee-based student government (by participating in the A.S. Elections April 22-24th), but to also utilize the systems and structures we already have in place to speak out about the treatment we have been receiving for the past several years.
While politics at nearly all levels within the United States are imperfect, they are nevertheless the established way to "get things done," and having knowledgeable students to navigate these systems is crucial to maintaining student interests (and student pocketbooks) here at HSU. Utilize your current representatives and UC Board members, (who are: Noelle Perlmutter, Crystal Chaney, Constance Mitchell, Terra Rentz, and Anondah Saide to name a few) to best have your perspective addressed as A.S. Council and the UC Board discuss the potential benefits and repercussions of University Center reorganization. You are paying over $90 each semester for your student union (the UC), and your input on this decision is wanted.
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