Editors, the Gauntlet,
I want my Students’ Union dues back.
I was disgusted last week at the unprofessional tuition awareness campaign of misinformation run by the SU. I am disappointed in our SU and ashamed to be a member of it.
The campaign was slanderous toward our university administration, making it appear (wrongfully) responsible for the rising cost of tuition. Terry White requested the maximum allowable tuition increase, but he had few alternatives. The university needs more money, and it is not going to come from our right-wing provincial government anytime soon. If our tuition were to stop increasing, the university would undoubtedly suffer financially.
The SU campaign focused on a so-called $76 million surplus, which the University of Calgary was supposedly hoarding while they watched in delight as students became poorer. The little-known truth of the matter is that there is no extra cash available because this surplus had already been committed in various ways. Of course, most of us haven’t got the time to study the U of C’s financial statements-this is why we rely on our elected representatives to give us the correct information. They failed to do this.
I was also shocked at the lack of professionalism in the SU campaign ("we’re having breakfast, Terry White is not invited, ha ha!"). Who decided to put Terry White’s face onto bowling pins and knock them over-aren’t we all adults here? The attention-getting tactics the SU resorted to undermined the seriousness of the issue.
The campaign did get students riled up and ready to fight for their right to a (cheaper) higher education. But next time, we would appreciate it if our elected student representatives would get us the correct facts and direct our energy toward an appropriate target, rather than simply misleading us into an embarrassing and futile battle.
Ramona Corbiell