New fee will improve LDOC

The Chronicle is pleased to see that the referendum for a student activities fee increase that will increase the Last Day of Classes budget passed.

The fee of $7.50 per student per semester will increase Campus Council’s budget by $90,000. The current LDOC budget is $50,000. This year, some students were dismayed to learn that Collective Soul would be headlining the event. Snoop Dogg will be performing at Cornell and The Shins will play at Yale for their end of classes festivities.

This fee increase will finally allow Duke to compete for some of the big names in music and will improve the quality of LDOC. The money will go exclusively to LDOC events, but not necessarily to the main band. With the money, Campus Council and Duke University Union may be able to expand LDOC to include a carnival or side stages.

What is most interesting about this referendum, however, is the way in which it got on the ballot. Campus Council passed a resolution calling for the referendum weeks ago, but Duke Student Government tabled the measure. Undeterred, Campus Council circulated a petition and obtained signatures from more than 15 percent of the student body, supporting the referendum. This oft-forgotten provision proved a success, and it demonstrated the ability for groups to bypass DSG.

In the future, other students should take a cue from Campus Council and remember that DSG is not the only means of passing a referendum. This is democracy at work—students wanted this fee to pass because they knew it meant more money for a better band at LDOC. After DSG effectively killed this measure, the students who still wanted the referendum on the ballot took matters into their own hands. It is nice to see that students managed to work the system in order to get something that they wanted done. As a result, these students will benefit by having great performers at future LDOCs.

It is dissapointing, however, that the referendum does not go into effect until the 2006-2007 school year. This means that current juniors will not benefit at all from the increased LDOC budgets. It seems strange that a measure passed in an April election cannot be implemented for the following school year. It would be wise for the University to re-evaluate its policy on when and how new fees come into effect so that the students voting on the referendum are the ones who benefit from it.

Finally, although The Chronicle is glad that the referendum passed, it should be noted that the the referendum was slightly misleading. Students may have thought that the fee increase was $7.50 for the entire year, instead of $7.50 for each semester. An additional $7.50 is hardly anything to make a fuss over, but the principle of the matter is that when presenting referendum for student approval, DSG and Campus Council should ensure that they are being as honest as possible. In this instance, it made little difference, but on the whole, students need to be able to trust their leading organizations.