EDITORIAL: "High Cost of Having Fun"

Students just want toStudents just want tohave fun, but fun costsStudents just want tohave fun, but fun costsmoney. The question is,Students just want tohave fun, but fun costsmoney. The question is,how much fun can weStudents just want tohave fun, but fun costsmoney. The question is,how much fun can weexpect for $170,000 a year?Students just want tohave fun, but fun costsmoney. The question is,how much fun can weexpect for $170,000 a year?____________________________ Help students have fun. It was an enormous undertaking, to say the least, and nobody expected it to come cheap. Last year, the Undergraduate Assembly contributed $145,000 to SPEC's budget. Over the last three years, the University has chipped in $100,000 from other student funds. Now the University is debating whether to stop picking up its part of the tab. Before making a decision, officials should find out if SPEC serves its purpose. Our conclusion?Students are better off with SPEC than they were without it. Hardly a ringing endorsement of SPEC's work, we admit. Unfortunately, SPEC has this strange ability to exceed our expectations one moment, and deeply disappoint us the next. SPEC shines when it comes to musical events. For one thing, the weekly Superblock concerts organized by SPEC were welcomed by many students, in addition to the numerous other music and comedy events the organization has put together over the years. Recently, we thought the free ice cream samples on Locust Walk were cool (no pun intended, of course). Without requiring the planning of Spring Fling, this whimsical publicity stunt became the buzz of campus conversation. However, SPEC could not manage to get any floats together for this year's Homecoming parade. Spring Fling, although still the University's biggest party, has not really improved under SPEC directorship, and the same criticisms linger year after year. Last week, only 20 people showed up to the first Fling planning meeting. Nor has SPEC managed to provide a viable social alternative to fraternity parties, particularly at a time when fraternity parties seem to be drying up (again, no pun intended). In their defense, one of SPEC's attempts at a Superblock party got rained out this year. While we enjoyed the cookies left in the dormitories afterward, we'd still like to see if SPEC could attract a large number of people to a social event besides Fling. Which leads us to this basic question: Do SPEC's accomplishments begin to approach the size of its budget? Not entirely, but we still hold out hope that SPEC can live up to its original goals. If SPEC can't, then no amount of awesome rock 'n roll will justify the organization's budget of about $170,000 a year. The Vice Provost for University Life should continue to provide generous funding to SPEC, at least for the time being. SPEC, meanwhile, should make every effort to enlist student help and turn in consistently strong performances. There is no question that students need the events SPEC hopes to bring to campus. But whether SPEC is our best hope for providing these events? That is still up for debate.