Taxing With Purpose

The Undergraduate Council is becoming more and more like real government everyday. The council's latest move resembles a tax increase. The student government voted to raise undergraduates' term bill fees by 100 percent, from $10 to $20 a year, making the council's annual budget $120,000.

The extra $60,000 raised would supplement the council's grants and social budgets, two things that contribute to the quality of student life. Student groups, especially those that have difficulty raising money in other ways, are worth the effort and increased funds. And Harvard social life certainly needs resurrection.

Currently the council allocates $20,000, one-third of its budget, for internal costs such as xeroxing, telephone bills, xeroxing, paperclips, and xeroxing. None of the additional funding would go into the operations budget.

But the council should not have all the trappings of a governing body without doing the job it was set up to do. The council is mistaken to act as though its only responsibility is doing out undergraduates' money. The council must remember all the things it can do for free. As the only elected representative of the whole student body, the council is supposed to be the students' voice. Yet the council has failed in its responsibility to act on student concerns. Where was the council when the administration was tightening the alcohol policy? Where was the council when the administration banned kegs from freshman dorms? Where was the council when the administration cut next fall's shopping period almost in half? And whatever happened to the council's voice in the divestment movement?

The council has abdicated its duty as the students' representative and become a mere social service agency at a cost to students of $20,000 a year. If the council wishes to justify this expense, it must expand its role beyond the glorified party DJ it currently is to voice student views--views it did not seek in doubling its fees. People will not take the council seriously until it takes itself seriously. As the council takes the significant move of doubling its fees, it must prove that an increase is justified, by taking student concerns seriously and acting upon them.