Dear Editor,
As an ETSU alum reading the ET from afar, I find myself amused at the whole Ludacris controversy. The letter writers who object to the concert and the student activity fee fail to see the broader implications for the university.
Activity fees are an integral part of campus life at universities around the nation. At the University of Florida, where I attend as a graduate student, we pay about 8 bucks per credit hour. As a result, we get acts like Kanye West, Snoop Dogg, Widespread Panic, as well as speakers like Jose Canseco (which was more funny than you could imagine), Gen. Wesley Clark, Gov. George Pataki and Ari Fleischer.
Our fees also form the backbone of a well-funded student organization structure, giving students access to a wide variety of programs and activities to round out their educational experience. Graduate students, for example, use activity fee money to fund a travel grant program with a budget of $100,000.
For students to outright reject the efforts of SGA to have an activity fee and to promote student activities is mind-boggling. If ETSU wants to lose the commuter-school tag, improve campus life, and make itself more competitive in student recruitment, the funding line for student activities has to be increased.
While I think there may be wiser things to spend the money on than one big concert, the fee raise is a good start.
I applaud the SGA leadership for taking a proactive role in improving ETSU.
To the disgruntled students who reject having a campus to be proud of, I suggest that you either vote in the next SGA election, or transfer to a school with fewer student activities, if you can find one.
Mike Bowen

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