Editor:

I enjoyed the recent editorial about ASUU and the Presenter’s Office (“ASUU: Mad Geniuses,” April 20). But there is one thing you need to realize: The Presenter’s Office is like a business that simply puts on parties.

ASUU is a government that, like any, wants to have parties for its citizens-i.e., fireworks on the Fourth of July.

The issue arises when the government attempts to control the business that puts on the parties. In this case, ASUU controls-completely, mind you-the Presenter’s Office.

Name me another government that owns…say…anything? When the government wants a road built, does it say to its own engineers and workers, “Go build that road?” No, it opens the bidding process for businesses to compete.

This is how ASUU should work. It already does it with Union Programming Council. Crimson Nights is funded through a line-item budget process every month.

Why can’t ASUU say to the major organizations at the U (UPC, Presenter’s Office, Greek Row, Residence Halls Association, LDSSA), “We want to have a party the second week of school. We’re thinking of a budget around $50,000. Give us your ideas and plans and then we’ll decide who will actualize the project?”

Am I completely off when I say this is how it should work? If not, then why do we face an administration that tries to run a business (the Presenter’s Office) when it obviously has no experience in business?

Don’t get me wrong, I know and love Jake Kirkham and Toby Collett like my own brothers, but like administrations in the past, they are too scared to enact change.

Case in point: I was on an ASUU restructuring committee a couple months ago as the director of marketing. Very few of our plans were implemented then, and none have been implemented by the new administration.

What happened to the real issues, like parking and tuition? Those are issues government is supposed to deal with, not which band should play at our next party!

Clayton PerkinsSenior, Business AdministrationSenator-elect, School of Business