I know absolutely nothing about running a university. My knowledge of economies of scale, of recent financial crises, and of what needs to be done to ensure self-sustaining microeconomies is minimally theoretical at best with practical aspects not nuancing my ideology to any great degree. I am not a proponent of governments, bureaucracies, and their ilk. My current basis as an anarchist is likely due to not having experienced any relevant aspects in life and instead derives from thought experiments performed within a societal, culture, and temporal vacuum. When it comes to understanding the impact of the institution of a new ASUN fee, I am utterly ignorant in essentially every respect.
And yet when I went into the ASUN Senate Chambers about two weeks, my voice was heard. Dare I say, my voice was even thoughtfully considered. Student senators, student presidents, and even fellow students heard what I had to say, considered it, and perhaps even agreed with it. This meeting was supposed to be the student president explaining to the student senators that they should fast track his proposal to increase the ASUN fee by $75 so that the university can get all kinds of superawsomenew things, and join the fold of other reputable institutions that have already gone ahead and implemented such proposals. This meeting instead turned into a bash-fest of a handful of students saying they didn’t like the idea of having their fee raised, myself included.
Rather, I wasn’t against the fee, but against the idea of someone saying they know how to spend my money better than I do. And I thought this was solid reasoning. I was convinced it was. How dare you say you know how to spend the money of thousands of people when you can’t even say what you’re going to have for lunch. Something like that.
Something ridiculous like that.
I thought I knew what I was talking about. But. But then I actually thought about what I was talking about. I had made the implicit assumption that I was dealing with a government (it is after all referred to as such) and therefore the implementation of this fee is therefore a tax is therefore illegitimate is therefore wrong. I am pretty sure this is what many around me thought as well. But we were all wrong. Even the student “government” that concluded that establishing this fee would be comparable to taxation without representation – something we are all taught to deplore.
But we were all wrong.
We were not dealing with a government. We were dealing with a company. A business. A corporation that, for reasons beyond me, hid behind the veil of a government. See, the Board of Regents wants this fee to happen. They think it’ll help the campus grow and mature and enrich the experience of future students. They – the bosses of this business – think this is a sound business strategy and want to make it happen so they can continue to be bosses of a booming business. They want to give their customers a better product so they will be more apt to buy it. Sure, it raises the price a bit, but this cost is to be outweighed by the benefit. A new car with all the bells and whistles costs more than an old one or a substandard one, but customers still pay for it. They are paying for quality. And that is ultimately the intent of this Board.
Therefore, my righteous indignation (How Dare You?) is misplaced. It is comparable to me saying “How dare you TGIFridays raise your prices? Don’t levy a fee upon me just because you want to make a better product.” If the raising of prices is a poor move the market will correct it: the business will either fail by continuing to charge more than the market will bare or it will be forced to lower it’s prices to levels with which it can maintain a customer base. And if it is a good move the company will succeed in making more money.
Either way, it is not up to me The Voter to decide. I am just one individual with opinions that can only extend to myself. It is up to me The Consumer as part of The Market to help decide whether this decision is sound. My opinion of a situation can be flawed: if I think TGIFridays’ prices are too high for what they’re giving me, I can take my business elsewhere, but if they gain two more customers for every customer they lose, they made the right choice. I’m just one guy who doesn’t know much and my words in a democratic setting don’t amount to half the hill of beans that would result from my actions within a market.
By even giving me – not an expert in business, finance, economics, universities, or the future – the time of day, the leaders of our company have failed its customers, its future customers, and themselves. Next time, just man up and tell those who don’t know anything about this situation to sit to one side and do some long and hard thinking before opening their mouths.
