Raise the Term-Bill Fee

On March 7, the Faculty Council voted to recommend raising the optional term-bill fee that provides funding for student groups from $20 to $35. Though the hike would overturn the result of last year's student referendum, the Faculty Council's decision is a good one, and the full Faculty should implement the recommendations at its next meeting.

The last time the term-bill fee was increased was 13 years ago, in 1988. The fee is channeled through the finance committee of the Undergraduate Council and used to fund student groups, which are sorely in need of greater funding. The combined effects of inflation and the huge increase since 1988 in the number of campus student groups have eroded the value of the $20 fee. The new $15 increase will help to alleviate financial constraints on organizations that have had to survive on increasingly smaller pieces of the council pie over the past 13 years.

While any increase in costs is always marked by opposition, particularly in light of the recent 3.5 percent tuition hike, this increase is a valuable one of which the effects will be immediately visible. Most undergraduates may not know where their $34,269 per year goes, especially in the context of Harvard's $19 billion-plus endowment, but they will be able to observe first-hand the results of more money for their on-campus organizations. Furthermore, the fee is optional, and students who choose not to pay it are by no means required to do so.

The Faculty Council also proposed that the Dean of the College be allowed to raise the term-bill fee in the future as he sees fit. Presently, any increase in the fee must be approved by a Faculty-wide vote. These future increases should be accepted as a necessary evil that would allow the fee to keep pace with inflation and afford student groups the opportunity to expand their operations. However, should this measure pass, we would call upon Lewis to exercise his new power only in consultation with the council.

Nobody likes having to pay even more for their education, but student groups on campus are worth the price. Just imagine what an extra $96,000 will bring.

Dissent

Stop Patronizing Students

The Faculty should reject the proposal to hike term-bill fees. While we disagree with the students who voted against the higher term-bill, their position is understandable: the term-bill may not have increased since 1988, but neither has the number of undergraduates. Students are perfectly capable--far more capable than their professors--of determining for themselves how much they value extracurricular groups, and there is no reason to reject a clear student mandate.

Stop Patronizing Students

The fact that the term-bill fee is voluntary is not an excuse for arbitrarily raising it. Student groups represent a common benefit to the campus, and their funding is a common obligation. In fact, only those students who recognize this obligation, who feel honor-bound to pay their share, would have any reason to oppose raising a voluntary fee. Refusing to pay the higher term-bill fee would hurt student groups, not the decisionmakers. The staff should never promote such a selfish type of protest.

The only justification for overturning the referendum is that Harvard students are not smart enough to know what is good for them. We reject that view. The council, Dean of the College Harry R. Lewis '68 and the Faculty should stop patronizing students and start listening to what they have to say.

--David M. DeBartolo '03, Robert J. Fenster '03 and Stephen E. Sachs '02