TO THE EDITOR:
I take issue with the editorial (“Let my people vote,” Jan. 14) arguing that Student Congress has no role to play in the proposed debt fee for the renovation of the Student Union. The editorial claimed that Congress is derailing the debt fee by procedural maneuvers, and preventing a fair vote by the students. The fallacy is that a vote by students would be fundamentally fairer than a vote by Congress. Many of the future students who would have to pay the fee over the next 30 years have not even been born yet, and many of the students who would vote in the referendum will graduate this year and never have to pay the fee.
The fact is that the proposed debt fee increase has been rejected once already, by the student fee audit committee, a group of students appointed by the student body president, graduate and professional student federation president, and Student Congress to carefully study student fee proposals and provide recommendations. Hence, the opposition encountered in the student affairs committee could hardly be characterized as unexpected.
Decisions about taking on more debt in the name of the next generation of students should not be made via a popularity contest. We have already seen the Union spend $1,300 of student money to market the proposal to students; should the referendum pass Congress, they would certainly spend more to attempt to influence the vote. If members of Student Congress judge the proposed fee to be flawed, they should vote against the referendum.
Alex Mills
Speaker Pro Tempore
Student Congress
