COLUMN: SCAB should not receive support from blanket tax

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by George Hatoun

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While this matter, I understand, is nowhere near the point where students will be asked to vote on such a fee, and while efforts to bring new activities to the Rice campus are always welcome, I think that a few words on this subject are timely and called for.

SCAB, and other non-student organizations, should not approach the student body for money to bring events to Rice through the Student Center.

These funds should come out of the Student Center's budget and outside sources.

If the staff members and students who are on SCAB want to augment the events and programs sponsored by the Student Center and feel they must have more money for that purpose, then they should either consider fundraising -- to pay for the events themselves -- or pursue that goal by seeking a budget increase through usual channels, namely getting more money from the Student Center or in turn from the Student Affairs budget.

Asking students to pay separately for money to go to SCAB is just as wrong as the Student Association implementing a tax on students to pay for shuttle buses.

These are both examples of cost increases that should be passed on to students in the form of higher tuition -- if at all -- instead of hidden in fee assessments.

In most cases, the appropriate student organization to handle increasing programming at Rice is the Rice Program Council, not an appointed committee centered around a building.

Students who feel that more money is needed for programs should talk to Jennifer Lin, Ryan Levy or another member of the RPC, and that organization should request an increase in its blanket tax.

George Hatoun is a Sid Richardson College junior and a news editor.

This item appeared in the Opinion section of the November 3, 1995 issue.

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