Written by Catherine Houser
$75,000 can have a large impact in today’s society. With that much money, approximately 11 underprivileged students could attend the U for free for one year, or three students for four years. It could provide for the nutritional, educational and other basic unmet needs for 208 underprivileged children in the United States for a full year. It could give the U’s Office of Sustainability the financial support necessary to promote their recycling and composting programs, or it could be used to send 140 students on an Alternative Break to help serve suffering communities.
Instead, the U’s Senior Council wanted to allocate $75,000 toward a fountain positioned below the Rice Eccles Stadium. The ASUU Senate struck down the bill on March 31, but the fountain came close to becoming the official Class of 2016 senior gift. You’re a senior and didn’t know? Neither did I, which is part of the problem.
The reason behind the fountain? Prolonging a tradition of the Athletic Department. In 1950, a group of students praised for their intramural domination used the shed below the stadium as a research lab, and when they graduated, they hid the key. Football and basketball coaches alike have spent major time and energy in search of this legendary key that will supposedly unlock the ‘magic’ and ensure their team a winning season. The ‘Fountain of U’ would allow students to feel more connected to U tradition.
The Senior Council approached the ASUU Assembly last Tuesday with a proposal to dedicate $30,000 of student fees to the fountain. Senior Class President Brittni Strickland and Representative Madeline Rencher responded vaguely to questions regarding the fountain’s sustainability, whether the council had reached out to seniors for input and the rationale behind choosing a fountain. Somehow, their tepid answers swayed the opinion of the Assembly and convinced them to send the proposal through to the Senate where, luckily, it failed to pass.
One of the most concerning features of the proposed Fountain of U is its sustainability. Last year was Utah’s hottest year on record and saw more rain than snow, therefore making the snowpack we use as a major supply of water more and more scarce. Continuously running water for the sake of visual enjoyment is a monumental waste of an invaluable and vitally essential resource.
Under the Fountain of U brochure’s environmental heading was one sentence about how dummy keys, which would be used to attempt to unlock the glass box over the main spigot of the fountain to obtain its magical property, would be made from recyclable material. That’s a great start, but they should have addressed the actual, significant impact the fountain would have on our community’s water source. Yet that did not receive the attention from Strickland and the Senior Council that it deserves.
Many seniors are frustrated that they were not approached for their input on the gift. Lea Hunter, a senior graduating in May with a degree in sociology, said, “I am very disappointed that my student fees would be going to support a class gift which is unnecessary, environmentally irresponsible and expensive. I believe that this fountain would be a misuse of ASUU funds and would be much better spent on improving student services to increase access and affordability. That is the legacy I want for our class — that is the legacy we should strive for, not a frivolous fountain for drunk people to pee in.”
So my questions to Brittni Strickland and the rest of the Senior Council are: How can you morally make the judgment call to allocate your fellow students’ funds toward an unsustainable, expensive “tradition” that only relates to a minority of people involved in the athletic department? How can you take the opinions of 12 members of your council and not the greater opinion of your senior class?
I cannot imagine a greater waste of my student fees. Hopefully this $75,000 will be reallocated to a legacy and tradition that the senior class as a whole can be proud of leaving behind.