"Yes" on Term Bill Hike

The Undergraduate Council wants a raise. When they return from spring break, students will face a referendum that will ask them to double their council term bill fee from $20 to $40. While this request is sure to be controversial, we encourage students to vote in favor of the hike.

Harvard undergraduates contribute very little to the student government in monetary terms. The term bill fee has remained stagnant since 1983, and the council's total budget pales beside that of other schools. Of course, many students probably wonder why they should reward the council given its poor reputation. We should remember, however, that even despite Springfest disappointments and nauseatingly inane bickering, the council has managed to do something right in the past years-fund student groups.

Student groups are the lifeblood of this campus. For many students, they are their sole social outlet; for others, they are a place to bring variety into an otherwise purely academic existence. There is no doubt that the publications, events and rallies produced by student organizations educate and invigorate the campus. The council, through the grants it doles out, is the body which helps make student group activity possible.

It is in students' interests to have their peers decide which groups receive funds and how much. Otherwise, the administration would have sole responsibility for supporting student activities financially. Given recent concerns over how University Hall assigns office space, never mind its recalcitrance toward the idea of a student center, we'd rather have the council continue to do the job.

The term bill hike is no way a reward for stellar council performance but rather a realization that student groups cannot do their work with passion alone. It is they, and not necessarily the council, who deserve a raise.

But we do not endorse the fee increase without a caveat. Though a larger budget will help student groups on campus, the council itself can regain legitimacy only by reducing its size-and fast. Having fewer representatives would increase competition in House elections and thereby increase the council's credibility.

Only after cutting its ranks drastically will the council be able to look beyond its role as a student group grant provider and focus on other goals. Council leadership has rightly endorsed the downsizing bill, but the measure failed to pass the last time it was proposed, voted down by diehard members eager to preserve their own positions but caring little for the fate of the council. More money for student groups is a step in the right direction, but downsizing is the ultimate answer to a serious credibility problem.