As a member of the Student Senate and its Academic Enhancement Chair, I am writing to express my dissatisfaction for a trend that appeared at the Nov. 15 meeting. Two classes could not afford supplies necessary to continue operating in the future. Apparently, the school can afford millions for landscaping but can’t buy PingPong tables for a Wellness class or rent a bus to continue the Civil Rights Pilgrimage, both of which are academic credit opportunities we offer at SMU. Where the academic departments and administration couldn’t pony up enough money to keep these programs going, the Student Senate was asked to use your student fees and do their financing for them. While I was proud to vote for both the PingPong Tables and the bus for the civil rights pilgrimage, I was less than thrilled to note that our school seems unable to sustain its own academic programming.
It is the role of the administration to facilitate academic growth on campus. They tell prospective students on the SMU Web page, “Learning for life is exhilarating at SMU.” Amazingly enough, despite the tuition increases in recent years, this learning is too expensive for our academic budget. This leaves me to wonder just where all this money is going. Our tuition this year, around $24,000, plus miscellaneous fees and possible room and board charges, is comparable to the tuition charged at Ivy League institutions. I sincerely doubt that Dartmouth or Yale would have difficulty finding $7,605 for sustaining diversity awareness in an account that wasn’t already designated towards helping student organizations attend conferences or bring in speakers.
By not funding more for the pilgrimage’s bus rental, what message does our administration send? Because of its popularity last year, I find it shocking that our administration could not be more supportive of this valuable educational opportunity. While President Turner was willing to pay $2,000 to offset museum costs, I find it disconcerting none of our alumni or departments were capable of producing enough money to fund this. This is especially disconcerting when realizing that we are providing academic credit for some of the participants on the pilgrimage. Why can we not afford to maintain our own academic initiatives? We students pay enough to the administration be able to reap all of the academic benefits SMU has to offer. We shouldn’t need the Senate to pick up the slack.
The Ping Pong tables were needed to replace three tables that are 10 years old and are dilapidated. Without these tables, it would be difficult to sustain the new table tennis class which is extremely popular. It was filled about two days into registration. While some may wonder about the educational value in playing table tennis, let me observe that: 1) we undergraduates are required to take a Wellness class to graduate, and 2) students obviously want the administration to continue providing this service, evinced by the rapid filling of the class. The wellness department could not afford to buy any more tables than it already has, and it could not find alternative sources of funding. The Student Senate was an appropriate place to turn to, and fortunately, we were able to provide.
My concern is what would have happened if Senate had not cracked open the checkbook. Would we lose wellness and academic opportunities because of a lack of available cash? If our tuition is going to go anywhere – it should be going to fund for continuing worthwhile endeavors like the civil rights pilgrimage. The Student Senate should fund student organizations. The administration should fund for classes. To do so is to fulfill our academic mission. To not do so is wrong, and risks us losing the academic opportunities which makes SMU so great.
Ben Hatch is a junior political science major. He may be contacted at [email protected].
