Editorial: Resorting to Old Tactics

Irony can be amusing, but not when it pinches professional student pockets. The UC Board of Regents likely vote to increase professional student fees by over $1,000 in order to pay for a lawsuit that was filed because the university had raised student fees.

In 2003 a group of UC professional school students sued the university, angered that just weeks before the semester began UC increased professional school fees by 30 percent-a staggering amount per student-thus violating the contract students had signed upon entering the university In 2004 a San Francisco Superior Court judge issued an injunction freezing any fee increases. But UC, claiming it has now lost $22 million in the process, is now looking to tack on a fee of $1,050 per student for the next academic year.

This is highly unfair to those professional students who now have to pay for a lawsuit they had little to do with. Some of them may not be able to afford such a drastic fee. With a policy targeting students every time there's a loss in revenue, it seems the university doesn't really have students' best interests at heart.

It's obvious there isn't a complete cash flow shortage-the university racked up enough change through private funding to renovate Memorial Stadium and create an Athletic Study Center. Student fees may not be quite so glamorous, but they affect far more students than integrating athletics and academics. UC shouldn't force schools to choose between cutting programs and raising fees if there's any way they can obtain funds for these schools.

Regardless of whether it means to do so, UC is taking it out on the same group of students who kept it from taking advantage of professional students in the first place. Sidestepping the original decision demeans those who stood up for this cause two years ago.

While this move may seem like a smart financial play, in the long run it will only make it harder for those without enough financial support unable to study here. So much for being an open public institution.

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