Wednesday, March 14, 2007

No Vote At HSU

I'll agree that it seems a bit inappropriate to use the majority of the proposed fee increase at HSU for intercollegiate athletics, but then I suppose that's mostly because I'm anything but a sports fan. I can't believe college athletics get the attention they do.

That said, why should students be the ones voting on fee increases? That's like welfare recipients voting on an increase in welfare payments. Not that I consider HSU students akin to welfare cases, although I suppose that case could be made for some.

Although the fees they already pay might seem high to them, I suspect those fees are just a drop in the bucket to what HSU costs the state. Witness this multimillion budget shortfall at HSU, and that's just the shortfall not the entire budget.

And why even bother with a symbolic vote? Seems to me they can do it the old fashioned way, like people have done for centuries: Vote with their feet.

18 Comments:

At 10:01 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

It does seem ridiculous that the majority of the money will go to sports; I even played sports there.

 
At 10:42 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

You kill the sports you kill the minority enrollment. Sad but true. I also think college sports serves absolutly no purpose whatsoever.

 
At 11:31 AM, Blogger Anon.R.mous said...

Are you sure those kids go to HSU? They don't look old enough to shave.

 
At 11:58 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

"You kill the sports you kill the minority enrollment. Sad but true. I also think college sports serves absolutly no purpose whatsoever. "

Did you not just contradict yourself there, kemo sabe???

 
At 12:44 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

True true, It serves no purpose outside of minority recruitment. But a college is an institution of learning, and frankly sports are a colossal waste of time. They're obviously a colossal waste of money. So now we know the exact cost of minority enrollment for every student.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed sports as a kid, especially in high school. But there comes a time when you just need to do it on your own time. Clubs are great, and they pay for their equipment.

 
At 12:44 PM, Blogger Fred Mangels said...

Looks like CSU just raised their fees by 10%.

humboldtlib can be used for username. blogspot can be used for password if asked for a login.

 
At 12:45 PM, Blogger Fred Mangels said...

http://www.sacbee.com/114/story/137819.html

Oops. Inserting the link didn't work

 
At 1:11 PM, Blogger Fred Mangels said...

"It serves no purpose outside of minority recruitment".

I have a brother- in- law that's quite a sports fanatic. He's even done some football coaching locally, I believe.

I was ragging on school sports, not HSU but high school and C/R, I believe. I told him I thought it was a waste of time and I couldn't understand how so many people actually give a crap about school sports.

He claimed it actually raised money for the schools. He didn't elaborate. He just said, to paraphrase, "It brings in money...".

 
At 1:26 PM, Blogger 101northbound said...

Usually students vote on Fee increases that effect out of classroom learning experiences.
For example: Lab Fees, Instructionally Related Activity Fees, Student Body Government and Health Center Fees.
The Chancellor offices has laid out guidelines in Executive Order 740 that student referendums are appropriate.
The main gut punch is that being a student will cost 750 dollars more next year than it did this year. When you combine the cost of the combined fee increases.
The cost of HSU for students will be the 3rd highest out of the 23rd CSU's.
I think an HSU education is great... but it shouldn't start becomming unaffordable.

 
At 3:24 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hey Rob, maybe its time you, y'know, graduated. You have got to be feeling like a perv when the freshman come in. Either way you tell it, the CSU is still the cheapest way to go. Why dont you just go and support the President? Do you honestly think you will accomplish anything?

 
At 3:42 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Rob, you lost the election. Nobody wants to hear from you. Get over it. Quit grandstanding for a cause you already know is WAY beyond your influence.

 
At 5:51 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Fred, sports are also a potential liability. The schools pay out probably more than they take in on insurance. The money raised goes to equipment and facilities, neither one is cheap. It's true, you may get basketball wannabes or groupies to go to your school, but I doubt it makes up for the cost.

 
At 6:31 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

The minority issue is interesting. I always thought it was a sham the way all the black folks live in the Greens or the Terraces and all the Asians lived in the asian zone on LK wood by the ceramics department. Then we act surprised that minorities don't feel part of this community and have difficulties assimilating here; so we have a weekend workshop each year at HSU to address the issue....Then the next year we repeat the exact same situation etc. etc. This has been going on since I was a kid. How much about this area do you think the average HSU ball player knows?

 
At 1:57 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Fred, having never attended a university (except for McDonald's Hamburger U.), you don't understand that higher education institutions are considered communities, and governance is shared among all the community members. So, student voting on economic issues is appropriate and part of University policy. That doesn't mean students have an equal voice, just that their opinions have weight. As a public institution CSU is also accountable to the general electorate and has also adopted particular rules to fulfill that obligation.

University governance goes way back to 16th century Germany and involves considerations for ideas such as academic and intellectual freedom of expression and collegiality. Naturally, in Humboldt, intellectualism is equated to elitism since most long time locals don't have the ability to participate in any intellectual pursuit.

 
At 3:10 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Fred thinks his business experience with running a one man lawn maintenance service gives him insight into how to run a University.

 
At 3:42 PM, Blogger Fred Mangels said...

I've never claimed to be a good businessman, if only because I'm not a good businessman.

This idea of students voting on how much they should have to pay to go to school is silly. The university is a place that is selling something: Education- at least that's what people generally think it does.

Giving students an official, or semi- official, voice in what their fees are is akin to customers of a grocery store having an election and saying the store can't sell milk for whatever they sell it for, even if the store would lose money doing so.

They do have a time honored tradition to fall back on, though: If you think the store's prices (in this case fees) are too high, vote with your feet and shop somewhere else.

 
At 8:56 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Kids that age always are going to bitch about something so...anyhow you'd think their parents would be the pissed off ones.

 
At 1:16 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Fred, you have no concept of what a university is or how it is organized. Comparison to economic businesses is just flat out wrong and stupid to boot. University education is a cooperative effort among all the people involved even though the ignorant can see only that it superficially resembles a business.

 

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