Today's paper is very special to me. What makes it so special is not necessarily the stories or the graphics and photos, but the fact that there is a growing group of students on this campus who care about this University, but in a different way than many of our administrators do.
There is a growing number of students on this campus who are not afraid to say that they love this University, but believe we can do so much more to change it for the better.
And when I say better, I mean better as in a University that cares more about education and giving students a better chance of graduating instead of being consumed on a quest to fulfill some kind of unreachable goal of becoming a "research" university.
How can a university become a great "research" institution when so many bookshelves remain empty in our library. A Rhodes College student once put it best to me while we were studying in the library. He said, "Man yall have really nice shelves here."
Today's paper outlines student fees - why we have them, why The U of M needs them, where they go and what you think about them.
It should be said that administrationers were forthcoming for this issue and the student fee issue here is one that can be found at almost every single major public university.
But who cares? Who says we must be complacent here just because schools across the state are doing the same thing? Who says we should not at least express our frustration that we take every semester to the bursar's office when we find out that tuition is somehow higher again.
Today, let us be the first student body to say, if our school wants us to fund more programs and buildings and athletic teams, let us have more input in how that money is spent.
Let us decide if we want a new University Center or football stadium. Let us decide how money taken from our pockets that goes to athletics is spent.
Students, of course, will never be given that power. But that is not to say that we should remain quiet.
Universities throughout this state are on a slippery slope. State funding has decreased, but schools' ambitions and aspirations only grow.
Athletic programs need chartered flights and professional work-out facilities. Courtyards need fountains and clock towers. We've convinced ourselves that we need so many things and yet, it is the students who are depended on to help finance so many of these needs.
But just remember when you're paying your tuition, student fees and parking tickets next semester - you have a voice.
And since The University is so dependent on your pocket book, your voice can be effective if you only use it.
Sure the Student Government Association has basically no power, but if enough students raise their voices, change can come.
We did, after all, choose to come to school here. I hope our administrators remember that.
