Forum
The Battalion
Page 4B • Thursday, February 5,20§j
The price of the Texas A&M experience
Fee increase will ensure Aggies continue to enjoy all University has to offer
per
T he Student Service Fee
Advisory Board
(SSFAB), a nine-mem
ber student board that repre
sents undergraduate and grad
uate students in developing
recommendations on the stu
dent service fee each year,
recently released its recom
mendations to the University
community. The SSFAB’s
findings revealed that an
increase from $11.86 to $12.5
semester credit hour was necessary to
sustain the benefits that the fee pro
vides to all A&M students.
According to the SSFAB Operating
Guidelines, the Student Senate and
the Graduate Student Council can
consider and provide their opinions on
any proposed fee increase to the Texas
A&M administration. Though these
two governing bodies have now
offered opinions, the results need to
be made clear to students.
Last week, a simple majority in the
Student Senate voted in favor of the
JOSH
PESCHEL
SSFAB recommendations.
Due to Senate policy, howev
er, a two-thirds vote is
required to approve this type
of legislation. Consequently,
the recommendations were
not approved, though no addi
tional legislation was offered
to solidify a precise opposing
response. The speaker of the
Student Senate alone is likely
to submit a letter of dissent
u
that will undoubtedly indicate Senate
opposition to the recommendations.
This week, one vote short of a two-
thirds majority in the Graduate
Student Council voted in favor of the
SSFAB recommendations. Unlike
Senate policy though, only a majority
vote is required for recommendation
approval in the Graduate Student
Council. Clearly, the representative
voices of the student body are in con
flict. The main question that students
should ask is, “Why?”
The key issue is the student serv
ice fee cap, as defined by the Texas
We talk quite a bit at
this University about the
importance of traditions.
Is it really worth the price
of two extra value meals
at McDonald's to
jeopardize affordable
childcare services or the
Aggie Band?
State Legislature. The cap currently
sits at $12.50 per semester credit
hour. If the SSFAB recommendations
push the fee over the cap, a student
body referendum is required. If
approved, the new cap would become
$25 per semester credit hour, with a
maximum possible growth rate with
out student body approval of 10 per
cent of the original cap, or $ 1.25 per
student credit hour, annually.
Increases lower than 10 percent
would not require approval of the stu
dent body. To answer the previously
stated question: short-term gain is the
driving force behind the debate over
the SSFAB recommendations.
We talk quite a bit at this
University about the importance of
traditions. We also talk about legacy.
Is it really worth the price of two
extra value meals at McDonald's to
jeopardize affordable childcare servic
es or the Aggie Band? Does the cost
for a trip to the movies outweigh
International Student Services, or the
opportunity to study abroad? Should
The Battalion or CARPOOL be
passed over for the price of a
Northgate crawl? The student service
fee was last increased in the fall of
2001, so we are in our third academic
year without an increase in the fee.
What we do by rejecting the student
service fee increase now is rob future
Aggies of the services that students,
past and present, have verifiably bene
Fited from.
The Student Senate has proposeda
referendum to be held in April that
will allow the entire student body to
vote on the SSFAB recommendations.
If approved, the fee increase will go
forward. If the referendum fails, we
step backwards at a time when we
speak so passionately about growth
and excellence. As a graduate stu
dent who pays nearly three times
higher than the cost of tuition and
fees for an undergraduate student, I
would likely be quite conservative
with my vote. Yet it is with great
conviction that I support the SSFAB
recommendations. The inherent
value in student services have benefit
ed so many. Why deny those to come
the same opportunities?
Josh Peschel is graduate student in
biological & agricultural engineerinf.
MAIL CALL
Military does support Bush
In response to Collins Ezeanyim’s Feb. 4 column:
I'm not sure who Collins Ezeanyim is, since
his name does not appear on The Battalion
masthead, but he does prove that Aggie tradi
tions live on. More than 25 years after I left, The
Battalion is still populated by the extreme left of
Aggie opinion, and most people writing for The
Battalion do not have a clue.
Even The Washington Post knows the turkey
centerpiece President Bush was holding was
real, and a five-minute call to the Trigon would
have informed Ezeanyim (and The Washington
Post) that a "trophy turkey" is a military tradition.
The bulk of the men and women are served from
steam tables, and the unlucky few on duty during
the meal get to eat the "trophy turkey" afterward.
The turkey story is a minor point, but it shows
Ezeanyim's laziness, disregard for the facts and
preconceived opinions.
It also makes it easy to ignore the rest of his
ill-informed editorial, since I already knew it
would sink to the same "standard" as the turkey
story, and be just as easily refuted by five min
utes of Internet research.
Sorry, Ezeanyim, but the men and women of
the military will continue to support their own
best interests, and vote to re-elect President
Bush. Perhaps this time (unlike 2000), their
votes will even be counted in Florida.
Dean Brown
Class of 1977
Soldiers don't suffer indignity
In response to Collins Ezeanyim’s Feb. 4 column:
Mr. Ezeanyim, maybe you assume Bush should
get no votes. That is perfectly fine, but under no
circumstance should you again print that service
members suffer “indignity” because their com
mander in chief did not show up for their burial
just because that is what you think. Judging by the
service and time you donated to the U.S. Armei
Forces and your country, it is very hard form
understand how you can possibly knowwhatw
think or what we feel about our duty. The on!
thing that would cause me to “suffer indignity”ini
death for my country would be knowing that baa
home in Aggieland there is writer without respea
for soldiers, social tact and a presumption thath:
knows enough about the job we do to prints
and how we feel about politics.
The only slap in the face I have received as-
serviceman is the one felt by the writer who «l
spare no group of their dignity and the self-ingr f
tiating, condescending tone that his articlesars
fashioned with. Generalizations aren’t anyw
for an adept student of rhetoric to prove a |
Camp Day
February 10
9:30 am — 3:30 pm
MSC Flag Room and Hallway
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Sponsored by the Department of Recreation, Park and Tourism Sciences,
the Recreation, Park and Tourism Sciences Club, and the TAMU Career Center
2 EVENTS...
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RUDDER FOUNTAIN
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FUNDING YOUR FUTURE
Destination: Education is a FREE interactive
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DON'T MISS OUTI
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Department of Student Financial Aid
P.O.Box 30016
College Station, Texas 77842-3016
Phone: 979-845-3236
Fax: 979-847-9061
Website: http://financialaid.tamu.edu
E-mail: financialaid@tamu.edu
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