Spending is misguided with funding in decline.

I am concerned about how the university budget is being handled.

I watched President Franklyn Jenifer give the speech about increasing tuition last fall because he said we were in a serious fiscal crisis. I did understand him, until I heard that the Student Union was going to be renovated, even though it was already renovated a mere 2 years ago with the new cafeteria and the new area with the Pub and everything.

This recent renovation was absolutely unnecessary. It seemed like a waste of money. It seems we want to become more of a party school while academics are not changing much at all, and an already long list of problems is just getting longer:

* Computer lab hours have decreased.

* The Pub shortened its service hours.

* Many meal deals in the Comet Café have disappeared.

The number of gold parking spots has increased at the expense of the green spots, which means many students that are already almost broke are forced to buy the expensive gold stickers.

* The parking lots are becoming too overcrowded, meaning we need either more space or a garage.

* Building maintenance is poor, especially in the rooms with the “bucket seats”, namely the auditorium in Hoblitzelle and the mini-auditoriums in the Conference Center (between the big main auditorium), as well as in the Kusch Auditorium in Founders North. Many of those seats are falling apart and are no longer comfortable to sit in. And these just happen to be the rooms in which big classes are.

* The number of available classes for each specific subject is decreasing dramatically, especially in the biology department.

Sara Maxwell

Junior, Biology

Editor’s Note: The expenditures noted in this letter do not all come out of state funding discussed by President Jenifer. Many are paid for by student fees.