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Show The Daily Utah Chronicle 3 T HE INION Wednesday, January 8, CHRONICLE'S' VI E W D.. Elding tlie Eliodes nrt she U received a major in boost of early December when Cretchen Domek, a senior majoring in biology, became the first Rhodes Scholar from the school self-estee-m in to years. ;..The award, which provides 3a coUege seniors nationwide a 'chance to study for two years ia the United Kingdom. Is arguably the most prestigious honor an undergraduate can receive. First and foremost, the scholarship reflects well on Domek. It her outstanding recognizes achievement in service, academics and athletics, and the prestige of the scholarship will stay with her throughout her life. The award's impact will reach much further than Domek, however. The scholarship reflects positively on the U as an institution and on its students. It will help the U in its quest to gain recognition as one of the nation's top public universities, and in its struggle for respect In a recent article in the Chron-- , ide of Higher Education, a widely read weekly newspaper that covers professional issues related to colleges and universities, U President Bemie Macben spoke out about the U's desire to climb the ; I GBTTlNd. TO me VUD TRaugLE. TJ- - " r decade. It is important that U students and faculty see the Rhodes scholarship as one important indicator that Machen's mission has already partly succeeded. Frequently, people involved with the U downplay the quality of the school in comparison with older, better established universities in California and the East. But many U students are among the brightest in the country, and the quality of instruction they receive is frequently on par with many institutions that traditionally outrank the U Producing a Rhodes Scholar is no small task. As Domek herself recognizes, the help of professors, advisers, coaches and other students was critical to her success. The U's Honors Program, in particular, deserves credit for providing Domek with an excellent academic atmosphere and opportuni- )OVl greater achievement, awards like the Rhodes Scholarship will hopefully come with even greater Chronicle Opinion Columnist a second job. apply for student loans, even hit up the parents for some because chances are you're going to be paying a lot more for tuition. Recently, the state Legislature met in a special session in order to deal with 2003 budget shortfalls. The total revenue lost was in the neighbor- hood of S117 million, making budget cuts inevitable. Few agencies and programs emerged from the session unscathed, and higher education was not one of the lucky few. The initial plan set forth by Gov. Lcavitt called for a $7 million cut in the higher education budget. Patrice Arcnt, the House minority whip, told The Descrct News the Democratic plan would have "kept the universities whole." In the end, legislators reached a compromise in which the higher education budget was cut by only $3 million a seemingly reasonable amount. However, looks in this case can be deceiving. The actual cut to the higher education budget amounted to $12 million. The Legislature then moved to supplement it with $9 million from the tobacco fund in order to ease the burden from the cut. The problem with this solution is that the economy shows no signs of drastically improving during the next year. This coupled J v don't think rue shmii fea m Issue, ticm thtrt re so mmy different factors irt drr,Ut!r.g $ esa t?aca f hmti play a role in admissions fee ciuse It's fc,p$4ift to have a diverse cimpus. Mteorltias often don't have as many opportunities, tittm two appHcents ere relatively equally quarried, admis' sion steutd be granted to the minority. schools want diversity, that's fine, fcut admitting ptopl solely on thtlr racial background Is not right, QusSlflcillons art- the roost teprtmt thing. If . V . GUZQ SMITH Science Material and Senior, Engineering ori- s MICA CAR LEY Sophomore, Psychology x' - . - - HATE BUNKER Sophomore, Linguistics Granting minority students special consideration only fuels the fire of racism. I think It can end up having a negative effect on students. If students aren't qualified, they may not do well. Also, giving minorities special consideration sends a message that they're inferior. , " - , etovm is MICHAEL YOUNG 1.1 How Should Universities Consider Race in Admissions? ties. As the U continues striving for defamatory to an individual or group because of race, ethnic background, gender, appearance or sexual entation will be edited or will not be published. Get SO &.SS ranks of education. He said his major goal is to catapult the U into the ranks of the top to public research institutions in the next Unsigned editorials reflect the majority opinion of The Daily Utah Chronicle Editorial Board. Editorial columni and letters to the editor are strictly the opinions of the author. The forum created on the Opinion Page is one based on vigorous debate, while at the same time demanding tolerance and respect. Material fc..- - czzz 2 0 0 3 . , Ideally, in a capitalist system, you want the most ctpabla peepta to prevail. But you have to make exceptions sometimes. There r so many obstacles that people face that you can't treat everyone exactly the same. Capitalism is Ideal, but some : times you have to work around that. ' , ' NATHAN LANCASTER Senior, Japanese and Asian Studies - nly Solution for with the fact the tobacco fund is a limited resource wherein the Legislature can fill budgetary holes, this means budget cuts may become permanent. The idea of the budget cut being permanent is both alarming and actually quite realistic. Traditionally, the conservative Legislature has been very slow to increase taxes in any way, shape or form. Many alternatives to a general tax hike have been floating around, such as a beer tax, gas tax or increasing fees for entrance into state parks. While the implementation of such taxes may be conceivable, higher education budgets will not likely sec much of that revenue. The fact is the Legislature must fill holes in other parts of the budget, namely public education and health and human services. There is one other "alternative" tax the Legislature is likely to implement: the tuition increase. In the past, the higher education appropriations committee has not voted to raise tuition, leaving that decision to the universities themselves. This may not be the case this legislative session. The higher education appropriations committee has recently been reassigned with new legislators, meaning traditional patterns of voting against tuition increases may no longer be the rule. Tuition increases may become an attractive means to dealing with the state's budgetary shortfalls in this area. The bottom line is there is not enough money in the budget to avoid further tuition increases. Either the legislators themselves will do the dirty work, or they will simply force the university to undertake the task of raising tuition, but CHRONICLE OPINION EDITOR JOHN MORLEY we are all going to pay more in the future. The problem is the budgets for public and higher education are dependent on state income taxes collected. Therefore, when the economy suffers, the effects on education tends to be particularly painful. With education budgets tied so closely with our taxes, it may be a good time to revise the way taxes are collected in Utah. Perhaps the recent education budget crises arc not a direct result of the ailing economy, but rather a product of the way Utah's tax code Rather than gamble with hopes that the future will provide prosperity, legislators should restructure the tax system. favors its wealthiest citizens. A recent study by the Utah Tax Commission, a nonpartisan state government agency, showed wealthy Utahns pay a substantially lower percentage of their income in taxes than their pooicr neighbors. Not only does state tax bracketing allow wealthier people to pay less, but many upper-bracktaxpayers and exceptions are able to claim more write-off- s than those in lower brackets. The result is that not enough money goes into the state's coffers, and poor people have an even harder time making ends meet The quick-fi- x course the Legislature has chosen is unduly optimistic. Though money from et LETTERSCHRONICLE.UTAH.EDU the tobacco fund may solve immediate budget woes, it does not provide a guarantee for the future. Rather than gamble with hopes that the future will provide better economic prosperity, legislators should restructure the tax system as a whole to ensure the wealthy pay their fair share. It would be tempting to write this off as scheme from a another liberal, Lut without serious reform, the budget woes for the state are only going to get worse over the next year or more. Utah can no longer rely on "sin taxes" and construction bonds. Expected increases in enrollment for higher education as well as public education will only compound the strain on an already dry budget. Substantial changes must be made. In the past, GOP lawmakers have defended the Utah tax bracket system by saying they don't want to punish people for working hard to earn more money. This logic is not only flawed, but somewhat insulting. Are we to believe that people need an incentive to be more successful? The truth is that for Utah legislators, not paying taxes and providing incentives for businesses outweighs the need to fund education. Utah has consistently been ranked last in spending ratios in per student as well as student-teachthe class room and this was while the state's economy was doing well. It seems we are resigned to continue to kick the proverbial dead dog once again, rather than gasp have rich people and businesses pay taxes. Mike welcomes feedback at myoungchroni-cle.utah.edSend letters to the editor to hair-brain- ed er u. 581-639- 7 |
