As a faculty sponsor for two clubs on campus, I see a pretty big problem that I feel is easy to articulate: each semester, ACU students pay a substantial amount of money under the heading "Student Activity Fee," then are placed in a position to plead and grovel to SA to prove the merits of their various campus groups’ budgets.

My experience has shown that during no semester has this been a fruitful process-not just because a particular student group doesn’t get all it want, but because no group receives an amount that corresponds to the number of its members multiplied by the amount each member pay for Student Activity Fees.

I would argue that this is an absurd method by which ACU clubs should operate financially; the solution is just as simple to articulate as the problem. First, remove the Student Activity fee from every student’s bill. Second, empower each club’s leader to determine what it needs financially to achieve its goals, whether social, academic or spiritual. Then, allow each club to charge whatever dues it needs to each member to function for the semester.

Clubs who charge too little and run out of funds will know to charge more during the next semester; clubs who charge too much will see a drop in membership, and will thus pare back on activities to gain membership with a more reasonable fee. But in no case will any club’s members have to negotiate to a third party-especially a governmental one who is not as invested in their mission as they are-to justify needs and wants in order to receive back their own money.

Cole Bennett
assistant professor of English