LETTER: SMOC is an exciting thing

Dear Editor,

I was thrilled to hear about the new club on campus – SMOC. Stopping Monopolies On Campus is something every student should be excited about.

When the university is the only business that sells us food, they decide what we eat. When they are the only ones with land for parking, they tell us when and where we can park. If they were the only ones providing housing, we would all be paying a whole lot more for housing and getting less.

That’s how monopolies work. We’ve all been in situations where we needed something, and only one person could give it to us. At that point, you have to do whatever they say in order to get what you need. If it’s a person you love and trust, it’s not that bad, but do you really trust the university that much?

I don’t know about anyone else, but I usually don’t have time to go downtown for lunch, though I would love to. Actually, I might have time, if it weren’t for the fact that I know I’d have to wait an hour to find a parking spot if I left mine.

So, I am stuck eating whatever the university cooks for me. Yes, we have a Pizza Hut and a Taco Time and so on, but the food is all cooked by the same people, in the same place. Not very reassuring.

Finally, the reason you see things like 99 cent Big Mac Mondays at McDonald’s is they are trying to compete for your business with Burger King, Wendy’s and the rest. None of the places on campus have to worry about that because if you go to the next place in The Hub for your meal the same people get the money.

That is why you’ll never see prices go down for food on campus, even if they were going down in town. Only the apartments close to campus keep the university from doing the same thing with housing. Monopolies hurt us all, and all of us should get involved in SMOC.

Jeremy Kidd