Column: Stop frivolous spending trend

By Ryan Beck

Published Feb. 2, 2010

Student fees are disheartening.

The only reason I say this is because clearly the tuition I pay every semester is not going to the right causes.

Does the enormous LED screen at Faurot Field look cool? Yes.

Does the Student Recreation Complex having a DJ and strobe lights on occasion add to my longing to stand behind the glass and watch the girls on the elliptical machines? Yes.

But are these things necessary?

The problem I have is with what we're spending our money on, not with the idea of spending itself. Instead of beautifying the campus with a tree or fixing some of the huge potholes and divots on all of the through streets, we decide to do these lavish things with student dollars.

Our campus might look really cool from space on Google Earth, but only grandmothers and the dean actually care about that. Students do not. Perhaps I am being too general when saying all students would prefer MU to fix practical issues before buying space furniture for the j Café. But no matter how you feel, I am certain you will agree change is imperative and greatly needed.

Now if you're like me, you have seen Columbia is the absolute worst place to be whenever there is precipitation. Every year a reasonable and expected amount of snow falls, and every year the Columbia road crews say, "Eh, I'll do it later." This makes driving anywhere, especially on Stadium Boulevard, a mess.

Rain is no different. When it rains, from space our campus might seem like a wonderful place beneath a cloud, but it is not. It's a little known fact, but a fact nonetheless, that MU is the largest puddle in the continental U.S.

I have done several hours of research, which is code for I have been to school when it rains before, and have concluded when it rains in Columbia nobody bares a smile. It is certifiably insane to enjoy having wet socks at 8 a.m.

To go one further, why does it only seem to rain on Thursdays? But that's beside the point.

A dry sock is a happy sock, and I would much rather have new pavement than a 15-foot tall advertisement at home football games for the Add Sheet.

What is the Add Sheet advertising anyway — other ads? This is completely illogical; it's like attempting to hijack a plane with a T-shirt gun. It might seem like it could work but really people are going to laugh and ignore you. Which, short of a "no thank you," is the proper response to anyone trying to give you an Add Sheet.

"No thanks, I don't need any yellow trash to throw away today — I appreciate your offer."

MU can and should get some high-tech, space-age, cutting-edge or any other hyphenated adjective style of technology. After all, we already have one nuclear reactor and two super pigs on campus; we need more things that are discussed in Newsweek. But before we make our next investment we need to consider the practical improvements that could greatly benefit MU. The future is coming and before we take that leap of faith and step toward the unknown, we need to ensure that step is a dry one.

All I'm saying is I just hope my money is spent with some respect for my socks. And with respect to animals: We don't need a real Bengal tiger — we're not backwoods, irresponsible and crazy like Louisiana State University.