How can anyone be surprised the Student Senate kowtowed to the upper echelons of the University’s administration with regard to the Talley Student Center indebtedness fee? The truth of the matter is our University never has been a democracy, which reflects the grand illusion of American democracy, which is very tenuous at best. So if we plan on blowing life into the rapidly-fading spark of democracy at our University, we’d best act now.
Seriously, in a country where roughly 95 percent of all incumbent representatives in the House and 88 percent of all Senators running for re-election win, do you really think the wheels of democracy are turning? In a nation where a black person didn’t win the right to vote until 1870 (1965 without establishment intimidation) and a woman could only vote after 1920, do you really believe we have a government “of the people, by the people, for the people?” Democracy is nothing but the faint light at the end of the tunnel — we never seem to get closer to it.
Given this sad history of “democracy in action,” does anyone really think it is going to start working at this University simply because we do not feel the time is right to start paying for the Talley renovations? The vote on the Talley indebtedness fee is not the last nail in democracy’s coffin, but merely the latest reminder of this simple fact: it is easy to ignore the will of 61.6 percent of the voting population.
Regardless, there are plenty of arguments against starting the indebtedness fee; obviously, the economy is still quite unstable. Yes, construction costs are low and the dollar is weak, but please, treat students like adults — most students are 18, and thus legally adults.
Tell students how the project will increase in cost per year due to various reasons. Explain how the structure of the proposed indebtedness fee will scale up and how it fits within the rest of the costs of a college education — be transparent.
But I’ve said it before and will say it again: ultimately, we should put the money we pay now into what matters, and either let students and their families keep their money in these troubled times, or better yet, give them the opportunity to put it into a tuition increase that would help improve the value of their degree by building up graduate programs, expanding academic facilities to keep up with continuing enrollment increases and bringing back supplementary educational resources like the various tutoring centers.
For that, I have no problem with a 6.5 percent increase; the benefits down the road will pay off enormously for every student that graduates from the University.
In the end, employers could care less about how pretty the new student center at your alma mater is. They look at the degree. And if we can drastically improve the impression employers get by seeing that you graduated from N.C. State, I’d take that over a shiny new building any day.
Eh, who cares? We probably won’t have the power to influence University decisions via the ballot till 2038. Democracy didn’t die at our University Oct. 5. It wasn’t ever really here.
