Students will have the chance to participate in the MSA elections this coming November 20 and 21. Along with the normal slate of various parties and candidates battling for seats on the assembly, students will also have the opportunity to determine the fate of two ballot proposals that would increase student fees. The first of these proposals raises students fees by a $1.50 and would only fund Project Serve and the Black Volunteer Network. The second proposal mandates a $1 increase in student fees directed toward MSA's Budget Priorities Committee. Passing either of these two ballot proposals will set a dangerous and harmful precedent for future student fee increases and student group funding procedures.

The first of these proposals, which raises student fees by $1.50 for only Project Serve and the Black Volunteer Network, is an illogical and irrational means of bolstering student group funding. The University of Michigan is home to hundreds of active student groups and organizations, many of which engage in community service and other beneficial activities for Ann Arbor. Moreover, nearly all of these student groups must rely on limited MSA funding from year to year to assist in financing their activities. Unfortunately, some groups are left with an insufficient or disproportionate amount of money to work with after all of the funds have been delegated. All students would bear the expense of this proposed fee increase for the benefit of a tiny fraction of the student body. Clearly, a funding increase for the benefit of two campus groups while hundreds of others are forced into external fund-raising is irrational.

Furthermore, passing this $1.50 increase in student fees would establish an irreversible and pernicious precedent in future MSA funding proposals. Voter turnout in MSA elections has consistently lingered between a dismal 10% to 20% of the student population. During last winter's election, a slight majority of this tiny fraction of the student body passed a $1 increase in student fees to subsidize child care for a mere 1500 students unable to satisfactorily support their children. This fall, we will determine another minor increase in funds for only two student groups. Next semester, should this proposal pass, there will be no telling what sort of funding initiatives will be presented before the student body. If a few small and factious segments of the university community are continually able to receive drastic increases in funding at the expense of the entire student population, Fiona Rose and the groups that influence and manipulate MSA's representatives would most certainly declare a student-backed mandate by which any of their student fee increases could be justified.

Whereas the first ballot proposal is impractical in increasing student group funding, the second is as equally unjustified. While a general $1 increase in student fees to finance MSA's Budget Priorities Committee might at first seem a legitimate form of solvency, students must not forget MSA's overwhelming incompetence and lack of accountability in appropriating money over the past couple of years. With a budget of over $200,000 to spend each year, MSA has squandered thousands of student dollars to pay for such ridiculous endeavors as "fact-finding missions" in other states and $50,000 for James Carville to speak to students for a couple of hours in the Union. This year's budget shows that MSA has spent $56,000 on payroll and $25,000 for operations. This sum of money alone could easily purchase a store of supplies as big as Office Depot. The assembly even goes so far as to hypocritically purchases food and refreshments for its meetings. This practice is strictly forbidden in other student groups who receive MSA funds to carry out their own operations. It seems clear that increasing student group funding at Michigan could be done better if MSA tried trimming its own budget and expenditures.

The administration's recent endorsement of the proposals is even more puzzling. Vice President for Student Affairs Maureen Hartford stated that compared to schools in the western part of the United States, Michigan's student fees were significantly lower. Perhaps she forgot that the University of Michigan is the most expensive public school in the U.S. and that out of state tuition is over $12,000. The University of Michigan is a superior institution and will continue to function as one whether we institute a fee increase or not. It will be a great day when the administration abandons its attempts to mimic other institutions of higher education and focuses on improving the university from within.

It is important that students not only vote in the upcoming MSA elections on November 20 and 21, but also consider the potential harm these two ballot proposals present to future student group funding. Although the increases in student fees are relatively small in monetary value, the long term implications of each are worthy of their defeat.