TO THE EDITOR:
On Wednesday, The Daily Tar Heel published an editorial that encouraged students to vote against a referendum allowing the student activity fee to increase by inflation without the annual approval of the student body by referendum.
However, while student government appreciates the Editorial Board's opinion on the issue, the article is extremely pre-emptive and incorrect, as no such referendum will appear on the Oct. 26 ballot.
The Student Code requires that any changes to the student activity fee be approved by students through a referendum. As a result, the Chancellor's Committee on Student Fees agreed Oct. 12 to remove the proposed inflationary increase of $1 in student activity fees from this year's proposed fee package.
In the informal discussion that followed this decision, the suggestion was made that student government attempt to put a referendum on the Oct. 26 ballot. But this idea was ultimately dismissed because time constraints would not allow student government to inform the student body on the issue adequately. In addition, committee members discussed potential ideas for the future referendum.
Upon consultation with a member of the Editorial Board, I was informed that the editorial was based upon hearsay and a Oct. 13 article covering the Chancellor's Committee on Student Fees that stated, "... students will vote this year to allow officials to approve inflationary fee increases for student government without the support of a referendum." No attempt was made to contact any individual within student government to confirm the details or even the existence of the imagined referendum. Because of the failure of the Editorial Board to check its sources and to follow up on an issue before publication, the DTH has presented a gross misrepresentation of an issue to the student body.
To clarify additionally, a referendum on this issue will happen at some point this year, most likely in February. When it does, student government will continue to take its job seriously by researching the options and presenting them to the student body in an accurate manner. At that point, I hope the Editorial Board will once again express its opinion on the actual proposed referendum.
Daneen Furr
