We're having a referendum of student opinion on the MSC Renovation Plan Monday through Wednesday. More than 40 students, including myself, collected 5,400 signatures on a petition to have that referendum so people could express opinions on the plan to the administration.
I have decided to vote against that referendum because I feel that the administration has not been honest with us on the process and has not stuck to the plan we voted on last year.
I support the idea of renovating the MSC where necessary. It is an old building and it needs to be maintained. The administration has changed the plan, though, from what it was last year. They haven't been completely honest about why, either. For these reasons, I feel that we must hold them accountable.
Isn't it unfortunate that a rag-tag group of 40 students had to go out and collect 5,400 signatures just to have a referendum, anyway? It was necessary, because student leaders have not shown leadership in this process.
On various occasions, like the Oct. 29 student senate meeting and the MSC open forum on Nov. 6, the MSC Complex President Nick Petree has said a student referendum is unnecessary. This is what inspired the referendum petition in the first place. We are a University that prides itself on having a common spirit, and yet we wouldn't need a new vote on a changing plan? Perhaps we should just let these few individuals at the top make all the decisions.
Odd as his answers might be, the administration's ring even more falsely. Last year, when students voted on the plan, they were assured by the votemsc.tamu.edu campaign that the building would remain open in some form or another so students could continue to use what they would be continually paying for. This year, we are told that it is entirely impossible to keep the building open because of safety.
Does anyone wonder why they couldn't figure this out last year, months after the plan had been started, if it was such a glaring fact? "Student safety" is mostly an attempt to cover up another failure on the part of the administration.
I believe the real reason for closing the entire building for three years is that the administration hasn't been able to raise $20 million in donations from former students. This amount was promised to the Student Senate last year and was supposedly an important part of the plan. According to Petree at the open forum, not even $1 million had been raised. How are we to believe that Old Army is behind this plan if they won't even donate?
Starting a complete rebuild of a huge building in the middle of campus is not the smartest decision in the middle of an economic recession.
The many student organizations that depend upon the MSC are being told that space will be found all over campus to accommodate them. At the forum, Petree and others had no straight answer for students concerned about where they would be able to meet. In fact, after someone at the forum asked for a specific place to be named where their student group might be relocated to, he couldn't name a single spot. Right now, there is no set plan to accommodate student organizations.
The group who will feel this decision the most will be the freshmen who didn't have the opportunity to vote on the original plan. They will not be able to see the MSC open and use its facilities until after they graduate from Texas A&M. Sorry. You didn't come to college soon enough. Don't worry, though - you have omniscient student leaders and administrators to plan on your behalf.
I have come to believe that attempts to express student opinion to the administration are mostly futile because they ultimately do what they want. However, I think they will listen to a voice that strongly questions the validity of what they are doing. Now is the time for such a voice to be heard.
We cannot continue to let the administration juggle their responsibilities to us so precariously as to not even keep to the plan they promised. We have to hold them accountable. It is our duty as Aggies.
Today, I will be voting against the referendum. I urge you to do the same.
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