Editorial: Vote no on fee


Arizona Daily Wildcat
Monday, April 5, 2004

Too many questions remain on activity fee

Students have an easy decision to make in the 11th-hour election currently underway: No way.

Though it is a tempting thought to not vote at all - in protest of a last-minute election the Associated Students of the University of Arizona senators forced on students - that is not the right course of action to take.

Instead, students need to send a message to those people in ASUA that they won't just rubber stamp a proposal that hasn't been properly researched or thought out. The best way to do that is to vote no on the student fee.

It is painfully clear that the fee isn't ready for a vote. Several club leaders are very opposed to this proposal, and they don't believe enough work has been done - and they are right.

The fee needs to be taken seriously by everyone. But the way organizers are recklessly pushing for the fee - which would generate more than $1 million of student money - you'd never know it.

There is a distinct odor of self-interest surrounding this whole process, and the fee will explode on the senators before they realize what they did wrong.

Our student leaders are acting like impatient children in a toy store as they try to pass this fee, not because there is a deadline but because they want to leave their legacy here at the UA. Instead of moving the election to next semester -when there would be ample time to advertise, research and make the fee as big a deal as it should be - they are rushing to get it done now. These student leaders want to hang their hats on something and pat themselves on the back rather than put students first.

The fee needs time to mature into a feasible proposal that answers all the questions, from distribution and refunds to how the Appropriations Board will meet. The fee should not be approved in its current form of disarray and with its weak foundations.

Don't let your student representatives get away with this. Vote no on the student activity fee.