True journalism
Kudos to Matt Emmons for a well-written, unbiased story! Too many "news" organizations are pushing their own agenda by couching questions so as to get only one answer or setting the stage to a preordained outcome.
For example, NASCAR recently complained about NBC fitting Muslims with hidden cameras and then sending them to NASCAR races. Car races are where one can usually find "good ole boys" with way too much alcohol in them. To me this smells of instigation but NBC says its reporting is fair and called it's techniques, nothing new. This represents the kind of slanted journalism that takes place all over America today.
I appreciate true journalism untainted by the writer's personal opinion and the Sun Star story "ROTC Cadets sound off" is a good example of this. Thank you for demonstrating how a story should be reported.
Ray Smith
Thanks Ray, but there are some who would disagree. - Ed.
Split the cost
In a few weeks there is likely going to be a vote by the students to heft roughly half of the proposed cost of a Wood Center expansion. I am dismayed that this burden is being dropped on the students, or likely future students. The biggest issue is that the Wood Center has been, and will be, used by a large number of groups who aren't students (a.k.a. the community of Fairbanks). This is an active community center, yet most of the cost will be focused on just the students going there. Students will have to pay this added fee, the portion of their tuition that pays to keep it running, a meal plan to eat in said cafeteria (and keep it running), as well as any portion of normal taxes to the state that end up going to the university to fund said building. All of this, while the staff, faculty, convention groups, visitors, and the non-student community get a number of benefits for free. Think of every concert, performance, or other activity in the Wood center that is open to the public for free. The building is used by much more than just UAF students, and this cost weighs down the already heavy costs of going to college.
Added to this is that the fee will likely be a fee dump on future students, while current students (who vote on the matter) get off scott free. I saw this sort of thing take place with regards to the SRC. The students were promised that the burden would be placed on future students, after the current voters had left, to entice them to build. True, the SRC is a rather nice place, but students are constantly grumbling about how they (the current payees), didn't really get a say in the matter, all the while staff, faculty, and towns-people are able to use the resource optionally, without having to pay the additional heft of going to school. Whereas students foot the bill regardless whether they use the place or not (9 credits or more).
This is a community center and the said costs should be shared by the community. This heft should not be leveled at students, even if just half. When I was the RHA Food Service Rep in the late '90s, we talked about this issue of combining the food service at the Wood Center, connecting the building to Constitution Hall, and modifying the Wood Center to better meet the needs of the community and students. We thought it rather desirable that students (grad and undergrad), professors, staff, and townsfolk would eat together in the same place for each other's benefit. I don't remember the part of the conversation where only the students were allowed in the building while everyone else was run off. Personally, I know that this Wood Center/Constitution Hall plan needs some work, but it should start by spreading the cost to the community that would use this place, and not just slammed on students.
Michael L. Wilson
Senior in Mechanical Engineering/Web Designer
