By Corey Liebowitz
Arizona Daily Wildcat
November 12, 1997

University should fund Union

Editor:

I am writing in response to Barbara E. Franklin's letter in Tuesday's Daily Wildcat. There is another side to this that you, the students, need to see.

Taking money from you will be like taking candy from a baby. A few flyers, a whiteboard asking for your opinions, some clever advertising, and the administration of this school will have taken your money and set it aside for a project that they should be funding. Renovating the union is a project whose burden falls on the shoulders of the administration, not the students. For at least a decade, the administrative officials of this university have neglected to pay for the renovation. Who will be paying for their mistakes? You will. The administration has tuition dollars to fund this project; but they want to use it on other buildings and charge you an additional fee of $80 per year, which is wrong.

Though the union has been in dire need of repair and expansion, the administration has deemed numerous projects more important than a building that is the centerpiece of the campus and serves all students. Why didn't they plan for such an enormous project? The administration has put itself in a difficult position: fire and health officials have mandated that the U of A build a new student union and the piggy bank is empty. With a history of large fundraising campaigns, this prestigious school should have no trouble in soliciting donations to help pay for the renovation. Rather than spending their time fundraising and cutting their own bloated budgets, they are devoting their energy to campaigning for your money.

The students of this school need to stand up to the administration and demand that they find a way to fund this project without reaching into the bank accounts of the students. We need to send a clear message that we will not be swayed by a clever campaign to give money for this building. Vote against the referendum. Let the administration know that it is ludicrous to expect students to make up for the mistakes of the administration. The administration may be thinking that taking money from you will be easy, on November 18th, you have the opportunity to prove them wrong.

Corey Liebowitz
English Freshman