Student activity fee in the hands of UA students

I am writing on the topic of the student activity fee. I am a member of the Collaboration Board that is researching the idea, and I want to tell you why I am on the board: to listen to students in order to contribute to the enhancement of student life at UA. Student fees are in place at many peer institutions. The question we are examining is that of whether a student activity fee is appropriate for the UA.

If the results of the survey being conducted show that what we currently have on campus to accommodate students outside the classroom is sufficient, and students can think of nothing more to enhance life on campus, then we are done. If students have everything they can imagine from a large, public institution and are 100% satisfied, then UA has been successful. But if not, where are the gaps? Is there something that students want on campus that is not offered? The UA is a large campus housing diverse interests; great opportunities for students to experience during their college careers could be overlooked. Additionally, there is the potential problem that future budget cuts will threaten student activities and services that we currently depend on at UA (Career Services, the Student Health Center, etc.), which the state is not obligated to fund.

If the study indicates that students would like to vote on a student fee, the result of the election is not what will matter to me. What matters to me is that students' voices are heard and that I know that I have asked for and provided feedback to enable UA to provide the best experience for its students. If students say they are fully satisfied with opportunities available on campus, then a fee would be ludicrous. But if there is room for improvement, and students want to see changes and additions, then a student activity fee is something to consider. I want to know how students feel. If you are asked to participate in a survey or if the matter comes to vote, please voice your opinion.

Paige Haber
business management and German studies senior

Graduate students' input ignored by Daily Wildcat

The Wildcat continues to neglect the participation of the Graduate and Professional Student Council on the student fee committee. We have always been, and continue to be, active participants in this committee, and it's neglecting to mention this effectively alienates close to 25 percent of the student population from the student fee discussion. No graduate students in their right minds will vote yes to a student fee after reading the Wildcat's articles, although the real issues, that I think have strong merit, still have yet to be heard.

Please begin to include the graduate portion of the student populace that the Wildcat has consistently alienated with its undergraduate-biased reporting.

Jani Radebaugh
planetary sciences graduate student
Graduate and Professional Student Council president

Students missing dorm experience due to cap

I was amazed to learn that people can only live in dorms for four semesters now, truly amazed. As a veteran of something like eight years' residence in Hopi Lodge during the Î70s and Î80s, this seems truly bizarre. What are the demographics of the dorm population? Nobody over 21? No wonder Hopi is now a "substance free" dorm ÷ nobody there is over the drinking age. The older upperclassmen in the dorm were an endless source of information and inspiration. There were lots of Vietnam Veterans at the time I first arrived. How can you have a dorm system with only the young, impressionable types majoring in fake IDs?

Jim Douglas
UA alumnus

Alumni funds could be better used for university

Running a large state university that tries to be all things to all people is an expensive task. The Legislature could, of course, direct more funding to the university, but that would entail cutting back obsolete or special-interest programs and government waste, something that doesn't seem likely to happen any time soon.

There's nothing wrong with tuition increases per se ÷ it's reasonable for students, like their peers at private institutions, to take up a bit of the cost in the form of loans. After all, students attend the university seeking higher education. Self-edification is not a right.

However, if the university is really undergoing a financial crunch, why aren't the alumni moving to take up the slack? It shouldn't take getting one's name on a building to merit giving the alma mater ("giving mother") a helping hand. More than 200,000 former students of the UA exist. Fifty thousand contributions of $50-100 each would surely help out in some way, especially if earmarked for the central mission of the university: teaching and doing research.

Bennett Kalafut
optical sciences graduate student

Comparison of Bush to Hitler unwarranted

Thursday's Wildcat included a disjointed argument by Mr. Haney trying to show that, in fact, Bush has a lot in common with Adolf Hitler. MoveOn.org's disgusting ad, which actually morphed a video of Hitler into Bush, is not only offensive; it's a total defamation of the evils that Hitler caused. Hitler killed seven million people in death camps and his armies killed an additional 30 million. George Bush's "war on terror" has killed at most 10,000 people, mostly soldiers and terrorists. The fact that the left uses the words "Hitler" and "Holocaust" so easily defames the actual acts and makes us think, subconsciously, that Hitler was acceptable. By comparing Hitler to Bush, people like Mr. Haney make it seem as if Hitler was simply a distasteful leader rather then the most terrible threat to human existence that ever existed. Mr. Haney and his followers should spend some time with Holocaust survivors and then maybe they would understand the terrible consequences of their simple-minded comparisons.

Seth J. Frantzman
UA alumnus