Column: Statesman Soapbox; Students should have known about TSC lab proposal before it passed
Whether or not the expansion of the TSC computer lab will be in the best interest of the students seems to be something ASUSU president Quinn Millet has already figured out. It needs to be done, no questions asked … especially before his term is up.
There is nothing wrong with wanting to expand the lab to help students out, but the way Millet went about it was wrong. As president of the Associated Students of Utah State University which we, as students of USU, are all part of, Millet did a poor job of informing students of his plans and giving the student body a chance to voice our opinions on whether or not we really thought we needed the computer lab expanded.
Yes the lab is crowded, and it can be painful – but only during peak times on certain days. Is expanding the TSC lab the best option when there are 10 other open access computer labs on campus that are underutilized? Should we really be expanding this lab when we just spent $40 million on a new library with a computer lab? Especially when enrollment is down. Millet said the lab will be expanded using money left over from the library and will not cost the students anything. But students have already paid for these 10 other open access labs. By not looking for ways to fully utilize them, it seems like we are throwing that money out the window.
True, with the opening of the LivingLearning Community there could be even more students trying to use the lab. But we won’t know how many more students from the LivingLearning Community will use the lab until they are actually there using it. Who’s to say most of them won’t have their own computers? And technically, the computer lab in the ESLC is closer to the new residences.
Whether or not the lab expansion is a good idea, Millet should have let the student body know his plans. He should have informed students of his research. Millet says he’s done the research to back this proposal, but he didn’t share it, or his reasons for it, with students until the ASUSU Executive Council meeting Tuesday night where the idea was proposed, discussed, voted on and passed all in less than an hour’s time. Maybe there were other, better uses for this money. Maybe this is a project he’s been working on for months. Maybe this is his way to make a name for himself. Maybe this really is what’s best for the students. We don’t know, and that’s my point.
What it all comes down to is that this isn’t an issue of whether or not the expansion is a good idea or where the Statesman should be moved to; it’s about how getting the legislation passed behind students’ backs feels wrong on so many levels.
Andrea Edmunds is the sports editor for the Utah Statesman. Send comments to aedmunds@cc.usu.edu.