The Crimson Staff

The Undergraduate Council's recent "discovery" of $40,000 in term-bill revenue has sparked a heated debate over how the money should be used. A number of options have been put on the table; the leading possibilities include spending it on this year's Springfest and giving it to the myriad campus student groups that exist on a meager budget. The various options each has relative strengths and weaknesses. And $40,000, nearly half the council's annual budget, is by no means a small amount of money. How, then, should the council choose?

It shouldn't. We all know the council, elected by a mere handful of the student body, cannot pretend to represent accurately the sentiments and interests of the campus. For this reason, the council should administer a campus-wide referendum to gauge student opinion on the issue.

We are optimistic that an overwhelming majority of the students would vote in such an election--after all, nearly 50 percent turned out to vote grapes back into the dining halls last year. When it comes to issues that could affect students directly, as is the case with the council's newfound cash, the campus is far from apathetic.

Before conducting such a referendum, the council should be actively soliciting students' ideas as to how to spend the money. The options on the referendum should then be broadly worded and limited in number, so that council members can handle the details of implementing the students' will.

Besides using the money to fund student groups or "immediate gratification" events, students should consider putting the funds toward longer-term projects that the College has been unwilling to devote its own funds--things like the renovation of the embarassingly out-of-date Malkin Athletic Center. And although $40,000 is peanuts given the cost of constructing a new, real student center, a donation to the cause would be a symbolic step that would certainly get the attention of Dean of Students Archie C. Epps III, who has voiced support for constructing a "College Hall" on the site of the old squash courts behind Adams House.

A campus-wide referendum would have the dual effect of legitimizing the council and allowing it to spend the money in the way that would most benefit its constituents.

But, perhaps, the council would also be wise to keep a portion of the money out of the students' hands--and hire itself a professional accountant.