The Gauntlet Editorial Board writes (“The SU is Sucking us Dry,” Mar. 3) that most of what the SU does is “miscellaneous crap” that should be handled by the administration. I would counter that this “crap,” including things like the Den, BSD, clubs, awareness days, the used bookstore, the recycling program and concerts (not to mention the provision of the new shiny digs for the Gauntlet, NUTV and CJSW) constitute a good portion of the heart and soul of students lives at the U of C. If you believe that the Administration would do a better job running these services, I’m afraid you’re in a state of denial. Just keeping the Den open and BSD alive has been an ongoing battle with administration for decades. Do you really want to put all the student services on campus up another layer of bureaucracy to decision makers you have little to no control over? Do you really want BSD to look like U of C 101? The Den to be run by Chartwells? Mac Hall to be run by University Conference Services?
Oh, did I mention the U of C SU has one of the lowest student fees in the country? Sucking us dry? Hardly.
It is unfortunate that the position the Gauntlet is taking is for exactly the type of organization that opponents of the SU have advocated for years: a smaller, humbler, hat-in-hand SU. One that knows its place in the world of grown-ups.
Careful what you wish for, you might just get it.