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Show , ;• ,%i* x"• ^ Opinions , - x ^ ^ l ^ P H ^ ' S ^ ^ Monday • Matefi 2,200^~*&?kg UVU sends message: 'We don't care' DAVID SELF NEWLIN Guest editorial Come September 30, the Wee Care program, a service on campus which provides child care to the poorest of families whose parents attend this University, will be $40,000 short in their budget due to a problem with the grant that funds them. This program is intended, obviously, to help poor families to escape poverty by offering cheap child care while the parents earn a degree, but it is in jeopardy of having to raise prices (currently families pay between $.75 to $2.50 per hour per child depending on income) and also having to stop offering its services during night classes. This would be a huge problem for the roughly 100 families who currently use the program. Those who take only night classes because they work during the day would simply not be able to get the service, and thus Wee Care will, in addition to raising prices and cutting hours, be cutting families from the program. Several weeks ago, knowing that they would be short and attempting to avoid the consequences of this shortfall, Wee Care approached student government in order to'ask for their shortfall to be delivered out of student fees. They asked for one student fee dollar, per student, spread over two semesters, to be allocated to them in order to stay out of the red. As of last Thursday, the current student administration officially voted not to fund the Wee Care program.. Come fall semester, getting a degree will be that much more difficult for our University's poorest families. Why did the vote turn out that way? Why all the fuss about a program which helps roughly 100 families every semester? Shouldn't we be jumping at the chance to help these families, these fellow students? I thought we had family values around Mark Johnston /UVU Review Young Kyle attends another day at UVU's Wee Care Center. The center provides supervised education, activities, and child care for UVU students with children but the program is slotted to be cut. here. I took it upon myself to understand the reasoning behind this decision. So I talked to our current Executive Vice President Trevor Tooke about what happened and why. The reasons given for denying Wee Care the funds were basically three. First, it was thought that Wee Care does not benefit most students at the University; only enrolled families would be helped by this service. The second was that it was unclear precisely what the money would be used for, and whether Wee Care simply wanted it more than they needed it. In addition, the Student Senate did not wish to set a precedent for allowing them to come back and ask for money on a continuing basis. To thefinstreason, I have this to say: as a Philosophy student, the Communications program does not much benefit me. Yet, my tuition money helps to fund that department, and a hundred other departments on campus from which I receive no direct benefit. Of course, I way, is given the opportunihave no problem with this ty to be benefited by the edubecause this is the model of cation offered here. Exactly how universities work, and the same can be said of the they have worked this way Wee Care program, every family has the opportunity to for a long time. The analogy with Wee use the Wee Care service on a first come, first Care's situation is obvious. But ^^^^* ^ ^ ^ ^ ™ served basis each semester, upon here's another one Shouldn't w e b e meeting certain anyway: not every prerequisites, student can sign j u m p i n g at the namely poverup for the Bud- c h a n c e to h e l p ty. I can see no dhism class of- these families, reason why this fered this semesthesef fellow stumodel, the modter. But this fact dents? I thought el we use for evdoes not give us a ery class, should reason to eliminate w e h a d family prevent the prothe funding for the values around - - gram from being Buddhism class. here. funded. Not everyone can Student Body participate all the President Joseph time in services Watkins has that are nevertheless prudent for a university a rejoinder to this kind of to have, like a class on Bud- thinking. His philosophy is dhism, or affordable child that student fees should specare for impoverished fami- cifically be allocated to programs that are available to lies. Every student is provided all equally, like the Student the opportunity to sign up Center, activities, etc. where, for whatever class they wish literally, the entire school on a first come, first served can participate. He thinks basis, upon meeting certain that the institutional money, prerequisites, and in this and not student fees, should 01' Buttars strikes again Loraine Gholdston Opinions writer If you don't live under a rock with a blanket over your head and your hands clapped over your ears, you've probably heard about the nonsense going on in the Utah Senate. We're in an uproar - again - over yet another outlandish, biased, and downright inappropriate statement uttered by Senator how-does-ne-keep-gettingreelected Chris Buttars. Adding to his controversial opinions that Brown vs. The Board of Education was "wrong," and people should only celebrate Christmas in December (even if you're Jewish, Muslim or otherwise affiliated), Buttars has now stated that gays are right up there with extremist Islamic terrorist groups as a threat to America. Okay, so it's obvious the old guy isn't making a lot of sense. He's a relic of an era in which schools were segregated, gays were imprisoned, and dinosaurs roamed the earth. But folks are arguing in his defense, "Why shouldn't he be allowed to practice his right to free speech? He's an American!" Well, why can't you joke ^ about having a bomb in an airport, or shout "Fire!" in a crowded theater, and call it free speech? It actually isn't that different, especially when you're supposedly a representative of the People. When you've been elected to a position that grants you power, you have a responsibility to keep the peace, not instigate separatism. Especially because it's costing lots of valuable time and taxpayer money td^ repair all the damage this guy does with his mouth. There are plenty of. non-elected people who can piss people off for free and aever even have to do damage control. For instance, the Neo Nazis* the KKK and the Westboro Baptist Church in Kansas (though they've become quite the embarrassment to Topekans). Who needs Buttars when we already have them? . Like any American citizen, Buttars is responsible for his opinions and his words. Unlike most other American citizens, he represents not just himself, but part of our state. Those of us in Utah who have to put up' with him being in such headlines as "Utah Senator's Forced Apology to NAACP Prompts Eyerolls and Muttering" really don't feel we're being properly represented. Those who don't agree with desegregation and/or gay rights might be willing to throw legislative time and dwindling taxpayer money at all the problems he causes, but the rest of us would just prefer that Buttars learn to keep his offensive statements to himself so we can spend the money on more important things. Like Higher Education. check us out online at www. uvureview.conm -it x. : .._ L. fund those programs that are beneficial to only a small number of students. There is something to be said for this line of reasoning and it is certainly more coherent than VP Tooke's reasoning. Nevertheless, in this economic climate, with the institution facing severe budget cuts, and with their tendency to take seemingly forever to do anything, I wonder whether or not getting institutional money before September 30 is a reasonable .solution. Student fees could fund Wee Care now, and for this reason, though I understand Pres. Watkins' thinking, I don't think his stance holds up. To the second reason, that Wee Care was unclear about what they were to use the money for, I will say this: I asked Wee care what they would use the $40,000 for, and they said it would be used for salaries. So there's your clear answer - to pay "the people who work there. Simple enough. Now, however, the burden of paying the part time child care work- ers will be thrust upon those least capable of paying: the poor families in nee.d of the service in the first place. If there was any debate about whether Wee Care simply wanted the money rather than needing it, let it be put to rest. They need it. With regard to the third reason, about precedents, I would personally be glad to set that precedent. Universities are not just profit-making enterprises. The) serve a social function as well, which is to improve the lives of the people who attend the university and the surrounding community. Failing to fund a program which helps the members of our community who most need to better their lives seems to violate that social function overtly. Fulfilling this function would have been relatively cheap as well. Wee Care's request compared with a sampling of others made on the same day break down as follows: the Utah Transit Authority requested $6 in student fees per student, per semester for the next year; the sports program requested $11; the Student Center requested $l-$5 for a proposed new student center. And these were all continuing requests. Fifty cents per student per semester seems like a steal to improve the community, even a little. Vice-President Tooke and President Watkins expressed a genuine desire" to see the Wee Care program grow and be offered to more students in the future, but it is not clear how that will happen if the program is not funded, at least temporarily, by the student government of which they are both members. This affordable childcare reflects the needs of our uniquely non-traditional institution. This administration should have funded Wee Care. The small amount of money would have helped the University bolster not only our status as a socially responsible institution, but also our dignity. Letters To the Editor To the Editor: As a Junior here at UVU I have seen many students in the hallways and around campus in my day. It has occurred to me that there are a few that choose to wear clothes that represent other schools and in some cases surrounding rival schools. It is clear that these students attend UVU as they are'in our classes and on our campus. In an effort to support school spirit, something must be done to stop these double agents. there were not a lot of options where there was a quiet atmosphere, or desks. We did not have an "official library." This year is so much better with our brand new library. There is finally a place to go to study, and not ~ be distracted. I just wanted to thank the school board and the state for giving us a library so we could all become better students. I know that I am not. the only one that To the Editor: appreciates it. Lastyedr when I Sincerely, needed a place to study. Stephanie Fronk Perhaps they can trade in other schools clothes for discounted UVU apparel at the bookstore. Or another solution would be to publicly humiliate and scar them as they walk down the hall of flags, into never wearing any other school's propaganda again. Regardless, something should be done for the sake of UVU. —Scott Blatter W$k Letter to the editor requirements • Letters must be turned in on Wednesday by noon in order to be printed in the next edition. < . ;> • We make no guarantee that letters will be printed. ^ ' • Letters 300 words or less have a greater chance of being published anything longer willbe edited fojr content. ... . • Please provide an electronic copy regardless of whether or not you wish to submit a hard copy. . • • All letters become the property of UVU Review as soon as they are submitted. |