EDITORIAL IFC windfall should benefit all students If the University administration wants to stay on Santa's “good” list, it had better ensure the IFC re ceives $337,000 in its stocking, and the sooner the bet ter. The money is accumulated interest earned from student fees, but had been lost until this past summer, when the EMU budget office discovered it. The administration offered to distribute the money to the EMU. ASUO and the athletic department, but it has no authority to do so. The interest was earned with student fees and should be distributed by the IFC. Who should receive the money and how much thev should get is are IFC decisions. (How the IFC alio cates the funds will be closely watched, howev er.) The administration based its allocation recom mendation on the assump tion that it was KMI), A.SUO and athletic depart ment accounts that goner atud the interest. Exact ownership of the money is unclear. The The interest came from student fees, not the EMU, and should be treated as such. (.lark Document, which gives the I PC its authority, Hoes not specify how interest earned on student fees is to be classified. Presumably, such funds could be considered ;ln carried over from past years. In that case, the money would revert to the IFC, not the groups whose princi pal may have generated the interest. The 5337,0(H) amounts to about 7 percent of the IFC*s S4.6 million budget The IFC should avoid tin* temptation to allocate the funds to any specific group or groups. Such an action wotdd only create controver sy and raise charges of political favoritism. Tht.’ EMU. ASUO and athletic department will like ly argue that because their accounts earned the interest, they should get it. EMU Director Dusty Miller said the EMU should receive about 40 percent of the money, citing "the general accounting practice where interest follows principal." Following the principal, however, leads back to the IFC. The interest came from student fees, not the EMU (or anywhere else), and should be treated as such. The money could he used to offset next year's budget cuts. It could he put into an emergency fund or every student could receive a 521 refund. Whatever happens to the money, it should benefit as many stu dents as possible This is the I EC’s first chance this year to prove it’s not the puppet of special interest groups by distribut ing the money evenly across the hoard, lad’s see if it's up to the task. LETTERS POLICY Letters to tin; editor must be limited to no more than 250 words, legible, signed and the identification of the writer must lx1 verified when the letter is submitted. 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Jgnnitar Smith, Ann# Siaphonson Nawaroom 346 5511 Display Advertising 346-3712 Buau aaa Off*# 346-5512 Classifiod Advertising 346-4343 Ktf.1 _ CiESMMW Forum gap This is in regards to the col umn "Write Annies' written by Tammy Dutey (Ol)L', Dec 7) It seems Dutey doesn't real i/e she was not the only Caucasian at the Asian Amencan/Afrit an American relations forum I loo attended the same forum us Batev. although I have heen wondering if we was at the same forum after reading both her arte le and column Daley and myself were the only Caucasians attending the forum, yet no one questioned my presence or asked me to leave Several people did ex press thut they wore very un comfortable having a member of the press there They did not say they were uncomfortable with liatey as a person, just the fat l that she was a reporter Considering this, I find the arti cles Batey wrote in poor taste She did a great Job of making the fears of those who opposed media coverage a reality i iiiki it very msturning mat ilali.'V (Enirruld Assoi late Edi tor) made reference to a woman attending the forum in her opinion column even though this person preferred not to be identified Furthermore. Haley didn't even mention any of the actual issue-, that were dis cussed. and those she did men tion were twisted beyond rec ognition How did Batev get the idea lii.it people at the forum thought she was armed and li censed to kill when nothing of the sort was ever mentioned? She should check her notes again. Finally, why didn't Hatey take credit for the article she wrote on the forum (Dec. 3)? Julie Jones Korean Student Association IFC alone I don’t know why University administrators think they have any right or jurisdiction over the distribution of student fees. The students at the University paid these student fees, and therefore the money belongs to the students The fees are sub ject. just like any other student fees, to I PC distribution. It is the IFC’s responsibility to make fee recommendations to the stall; Board of Higher Ed ucation, and this is sot out in tlio ('.lark Document (which 1 would bo happy to make avail able to anyone). The IFC exists to servo the interests of the stu dents at the University, and do so by allocating student fees to the many valuable campus or ganizations that enrich life here at the University. Let s stop arguing over some thing that is obviously under the jurisdiction of the IFC.. This money not only belongs to the students, but it can be used to help offset the proposed cuts in levels of funding due to the de crease in enrollment. The Uni versity administrators should step hack and let the IFC do its job Braden D. Kelley Student Senate Closed mind As an Asian American. I was vary disappointed with Tammy Dairy's column (ODE. Doc.7) about tiic Asian-Amorican and African-American forum on Doc. 2 She at mo to the forum with a closed mind to the idous and is sues that wore being dealt with I believe everyone should know forums like this are going on, and 1 was excited about the coverage by the media But the next day, when ini tially looking for some mention of the forum, I could not find it 1 eventually found it, stuck way in the back of the paper amid the classifieds (ODE, Doc 3). I he article was also very short it would have been impossi ble for anyone to do justice to the intense and emotional three-hour forum that took place I became even angriur when I read her column She got al most a full page in the front of the paper to "defend” herself 1 don't deny her right to be there, but how can anyone who was at the forum now say that her presence was good? She has no idea as to what the forum was all about, and obviously has not a clue on how racism affects minorities She never will understand how we feel If the Enwralii is going to send a reporter to the next forum, send someone who can empathize with minorities. Only then can forums, and the sensitive; racial issues con tained within them, have a chance to be properly repre sented in tin: Emerald, or any other paper for that matter. Jan Harada Undeclared Wide concern The current situation In So malia was uplifted to an new level of international crisis by the United States' announce ment that it will send combat forces to tile region Tile official purpose is 1 N - sponsored protection oi relief shipments to the areas of most need. from rival clans fighting for control of regions ol Soma lia. At the time of the an nouncement. the United States ulready had 1.HOO Marines waiting oil tile coast with at least that many on standby ready lor operations in the the ater, not to mention logistical support. Those are ull Ameri can personnel As a U N operation, this seem* pretty lopsided. Bui in fact there have been 500 Paki stani troops in Somalia. They have been very ineffective, however, and have been virtu ally held hostage at their en campment The question is. whose re sponsibility is it to deal with the mess left over? Thu mentali ty of President Bush's "New World Order" is to lie I i eve the United States is the only avail able nation with enough fire power to persuade the smaller nations to peace. This, however, is not the right idea, For any nation to have that much power and in fluence over the rest of the world is too dangerous Any force going into an unstable re gion to end a conflict, or set a truce, should be an actual rep resentative force of world con sensus through the United Na tions. not the U.S armed forces with the United Nations rub ber-stamping American foreign affairs. sUrantud. somebody has to stop the suffering, but shouldn't the relieving force be representative of world con cern? G. J. Schoenstein Undeclared