University of Virginia Library

Colloquium

Reducing The Bureaucratic Burden

By JIM WOOTON

(Mr. Wootton is a
fourth-year man majoring in
Economics.–Ed.)

The Student Council's
decision to allocate funds to
the Gay Student Union is
forcing us, as a University
Community, to deal with some
ticklish far-reaching questions.
The most immediate issue is
not, as some have asserted, that
the Gay Student Union should
not receive any money from
the Student Activities Fund
because, "no one should ever
be forced to contribute to an
organization whose activities
violate his moral, religious, or
political beliefs."

I would assume that anyone
espousing that philosophy
would only pay taxes if all
governmental activity
conformed to his own "moral,
religious, and political beliefs."
From what I understand of the
gentlemen in question, that
would be an unlikely course
for them to follow.

The fundamental issue here
is whether any government, in
this case our Student Council,
should force one person to pay
for another person's pleasure. I
understand but do not
"sympathize" with Mr.
Sabato's concern for the future
of the Student Activities Fund.

If Mr. Sabato were asked to
personally buy skis for the Ski
team. I doubt seriously that he
would; but he seems to have no
reservations about asking us to
buy chess sets for the chess
nuts, polo ponies for mallet men
or leather balls for ruggers. If
Mr. Sabato were forced at
gunpoint to hand over the
money for those skis, we
would call it robbery. But
when we are forced to buy
carved ivory, thoroughbred
horses, and cold beer for
someone else, we call it
government.

I think we must come to the
conclusion that there should be
a better reason than a mere
majority vote of our Student
Council to take money from
one student and give it to
another. Only those
organizations which serve the
student body as a whole should
be funded by the student body
as a whole.

This would not mean that
other organizations would
cease to function. On the
contrary, I would expect each
would become more vital.
Members of these
organizations, by paying the
full cost of participating,
would have a greater stake in
the group's success and would
take their participation more
seriously.

There are organizations here
that both deserve and require
our support. The Cavalier
Daily, WUVA, WTJU, and our
student government are
obvious examples of groups
that serve the student body as
a whole.

Yet these organizations
would be grossly underfunded
if their support were left to the
generosity of individual
students. Which groups should
receive our support and which
should be left to make it on
their own is a significant
matter.

Therefore I propose that the
Student Council pass as
amendments to its constitution
each approval of funding for a
student organization. Now this
may sound far-fetched to
bureaucraphiles, but there are
so few activities of general
interest to the students that
the amendments would be
limited and long-lived.

The only organizations that
should even be considered for
funding are those whose
services are consumed not
because they appeal to specific
personal tastes, but because
they perform a function
generally believed to be for the
public good. The two-thirds
vote necessary to pass an
amendment should assure that
an organization would not be
funded as a matter of routine
business for the Student
Council, but only after careful
consideration by the entire
student body.

Finally I do not understand
why "those who supported this
funding should be commended
for being consistent enough
not to select the Gay Student
Union as the sacrificial lamb"
and for allocating funds to
them for the promotion of
homosexual activities when no
money has ever been given to
fraternities which have
promoted heterosexual
activities for generations. I see
nothing consistent in that,

It has been suggested to me
that my solution would leave
the Student Council with little
left to do. That may be a
problem for Mr. Sabato but
from my point of view we
should, as citizens concerned
for the tremendous workload
of our bureaucrats, applaud
any move that might reduce
their burden of controlling our
lives.