OUR OPINION

WILL NEW DIRECTOR SIGNAL U-TURN FOR UPB?

University Program Board Advisor Don McCarty is right; things aren't working the way they should at UPB.

Last year, in response to the drastic reduction in the quality and quantity of UPB's programming, UPB began paying its president in an effort to increase the incentive for that organization's student leader to turn things around.

But that didn't work.

And apparently we're not the only ones who think so. Just last week, McCarty said he will have to begin taking a more active role in the board's operation, funded by an $80,000 allocation of students' money.

Normally, we would oppose such administrative intervention into students' affairs. But frankly, the students of UPB haven't shown us that they're capable of responsibly handling such a large sum of their peers' money.

The board's organizational structure, or lack thereof, may be to blame here.

Ideally, the president is supposed to recruit, direct, counsel and instruct board members. The board members themselves are charged with planning and implementing programming.

But in recent years, the president has tended to micromanage, generating as well as organizing and executing the programming while the 15-member board has degenerated into a social club for five or six friends.

All the while, McCarty has been keeping the organization afloat. EXPO, one of UPB's flagship events, is less than 10 days away, and Sharone Hopkins was elected director just Thursday. But EXPO will go on largely because McCarty assumed both the managing role of the president and the programming role of the board members throughout the summer.

That begs one inescapable question: if McCarty can do by himself what a president and board cannot, why then do students continually fund UPB to the tune of $80,000?

Hopefully, Hopkins and this year's board can answer that question and restore the student body's faith in an organization that is dangerously near extinction.

UNIVERSITY NEEDS TO FEED RESIDENTS

The hours of operation for restaurants in the Underground are anything but accommodating for residents on weekends.

Food Service Consultants closes all the restaurants at 1:30 p.m. Fridays, and students living in the residence halls can't get so much as a bagel until 7:30 Monday morning.

The University already requires residents to purchase $700 meal plans every semester.

The residents do not get a refund if they don't utilize the entire amount. Plus, they have to spend extra money on the weekends because the Underground only serves food during the week.

The University should have considered the residents' interests and contracted with a food service company that would have kept the Underground restaurants open from at least 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on weekends.

That way, a resident could at least get some lunch or a late breakfast.