How much do you like paying extra student fees?
We aren’t big fans when the money is coming out of our bank accounts, but we can see the benefit of expanding resources like the Safety Escort Service and the Bike Co-Op.
What seems a little shady to us is funding a student advocacy group that lobbies in Washington, D.C.
Arizona PIRG has noble objectives — fighting homelessness and lowering textbook prices among them. But the group should not be funded any differently than any other student organization.
After pushing hard for a student fee last year, PIRG was allocated a whopping almost 12 percent of the funds raised for USG’s $1.7 million student fee allotment. That’s more than $200,000 just handed over to PIRG — not only more than the average group, but also enough to buy several foreclosed homes in the Valley and set up a telephone landline.
Sadly, the group is still paying for supplies out of pocket.
“We aren’t reimbursed for the minutes we use on our cell phones and we don’t have an office so even the most simple supplies we pay for ourselves,” said Twyla Haggerty, PIRG steering committee member and faculty coordinator.
While we’re quietly shedding tears every time we send a text message for which we are not reimbursed, it is not the responsibility of the greater student body to cover PIRG phone calls, buy office supplies or to fund the salaries of PIRG staff when the group is not a University service and is not known about or approved by the ASU population.
USG halted funding for the group last year, but PIRG is currently working toward getting $3 per student, per year from Tempe-campus undergraduates via the $50 student-activities fee.
PIRG chapter chair Jason Donofrio said they want the fee to be waivable by students — don’t worry, all you’ll have to do is fill out a physical, bureaucracy-friendly form when paying your tuition and your $3 will be rerouted to the USG general fund.
Forgive us, but we think it should be the other way around. Shouldn’t you opt to fund the group rather than have to jump through hoops to not fund it?
PIRG has a handy donation button on its Web site for its supporters. If students are willing to pay $3 a year for PIRG, can’t they do it directly via the site and not bother everyone else?
We find it ironic that a group with the sole purpose of aiding students is so willing to advocate for a student fee.
Generally speaking, taking money out of students’ pockets to support lobbying interests is counter to students’ needs, right?
While we can appreciate PIRG’s dedication to various worthy causes, we support the Undergraduate Student Government’s decision to stop funding it.
According to USG President Brendan O’Kelly, PIRG wants to work on some issues already addressed by USG and “the senate doesn’t see a reason to outsource” its work.
Donofrio said they “want it to be up to the students” to keep PIRG on campus.
If they want student support, they should go about it the way every other campus club does — by showing their passion to support students, those students who want to help will answer. But funding a lobbyist group when our money could go to more pressing ASU issues is just not something we’re willing to support.
