By Dalmy Baez
Editor, the Gauntlet,
I am writing in response to the piece in last week’s Gauntlet titled: “The SU’s woeful tales of tuition [Jon Roe, Jan. 15].” There were a few issues you raised that were valuable and which I take as constructive criticism with hope that our organization can learn from them. I do regret the short amount of time the Students’ Legislative Council had with the proposed tuition document and would encourage my successor to budget more time to allow for amendments. It should be noted, however, that the Council was consulted during the development of the document and that an overwhelming percentage supported our position.
One component of our approach of which I have no regrets is the time we made to sit down with students and ask them what they felt we should bring to the board. You are correct in stating that their concerns included student spaces, quality of teaching, the university’s budget priorities and its corporate culture. All of these concerns were included in the tuition document and voiced at the Board of Governor’s meeting. Yet, in my experience I’ve seen these issues continue to be unresolved due to fractured institutional governance.
I believe our message to the board this year was clear: the SU does not support a tuition increase. We have taken the rare opportunities we have to trigger a larger conversation that has potential to shift the foundations of this university. We remain committed to seeking out the concerns of students. We will do everything in our power to ensure we present these concerns in the most effective way possible. I can assure you this battle is not over.