2008 Woodie Awards
Staff Editorial
Student fees should not support P.A.C.T. bus service
Issue date: 5/3/07 Section: Opinion
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| In keeping with the theme of a "greener" campus, Pittsburg State University administrators are pledging their support to the fledgling Pittsburg Area Community Transportation bus service. The program is a commendable one, and we agree with the assessment of vice president Steve Erwin that the P.A.C.T. has the potential to benefit the community and the environment. While we're on board with PSU doing what it can to help the program, we hope the administration will put the brakes on any plans to use student fee moneys to support the venture. Erwin proposed letting students vote on the matter of using their fee dollars to support the program, but to our way of thinking, the very idea of asking students to subsidize an endeavor that is not meant for their exclusive use is unacceptable. With other, more pressing needs (faculty salaries, dorm improvements and deferred maintenance) for our campus dollars, funding a citywide bus system should be well below those issues in terms of funding priorities. That said, the university can and should still do its part to help the program. Rather than a significant contribution of university dollars, that support could come in the form of assisting in writing grants, lobbying one or more alumni to make a contribution to the P.A.C.T. program, or using some of its prodigious political clout to help secure funds on the state level. So the university is doing its civic duty, and not at the expense of students. |
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