LETTER: Vote `no' on misleading tax proposal

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by Dan Grossman

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To the editor:

In response to last week's letter supporting a new blanket tax ("Proposed tax will help student activities," Thresher , Feb. 16), I would like to clarify a few muddled issues.

First, the proposed $27,000 is "to be used exclusively for the improvement and expansion of campus-wide activities and programs."

All the talk about how this will help struggling clubs makes little sense to me.

How many of these clubs are asking for money for campus-wide programs?

I find the reference to club sports in the letter particularly puzzling.

This vote isn't about whether we want more funding for clubs; it is about whether we want more funding for campus-wide activities.

And then it is time to remember the $8 Rice Program Council blanket tax and the $17,000 Student Center programming budget which already exist.

What new, exciting programs are we actually going to get, and are they worth the money?

Second, references to the possibility of matching funds from the administration are misleading.

From attending the Inter-Club Council meeting last week, I learned that 1) Vice President for Student Affairs Zenaido Camacho may provide a lump sum of money (not a matching amount) for appropriation to student organizations; 2) this money might be provided if the tax fails; 3) this money might not be provided if the tax passes; and 4) this money would be subject to whatever restrictions or lack thereof Dr. Camacho places on it.

In short, this money is a separate issue.

We are voting on $27,000 in student taxes for campus-wide programs.

Anything further is conjecture.

Third, the Student Association Senate's decision to place the proposal on the ballot in no way implies endorsement of the new tax.

In fact, this was pointed out explicitly before the Senate voted.

So this tax proposal is still something I encourage everyone to firmly reject.

We still won't get to vote on any of the specifics regarding our money. The amount of money still isn't reasonable.

Supporters of the college system should still turn back this blatant move toward centralization.

You can still get more information at http://www.owlnet.rice.edu/~danieljg/tax .

You should still reject the tax.

Dan Grossman

SRC '97

This item appeared in the Opinion section of the February 23, 1996 issue.

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