As a member of the Greek community, I am disturbed to discover the University is proposing a full cut of the entire Greek Life budget and unilateral imposition of a $50 per semester fee on all Greek members. Essentially, the University is forcing Greek students to fund one of its departments to the tune of $420,000 per year. The proposal is set to go before the LSU System Board of Supervisors on Friday.
For more than 140 years, LSU’s Greek community has allowed young men and women to develop lasting friendships, develop as a person and a leader, devote hours of service to the local community and make lasting impressions on LSU.  Last year alone, LSU Greeks donated over $250,000 to over 30 charities, built two homes in conjunction with Habitat for Humanity and devoted over 50,000 community service hours. More than 4,100 LSU students are Greek, about 18 percent of the student body.
The University’s reasoning for imposing this fee raises numerous concerns. The University did not provide the Greek system the opportunity to dispute this fee, claiming that the fee should only be imposed on Greek organizations because the Greek community is “selective” in its intake process. However, in most professional and honorary organizations, a minimum GPA, as well as other criteria, are used for intake. Even Student Government has selective interview processes for appointed positions. Yet, members of these organizations will not have to subsidize the University departments that oversee them.
Equally disturbing is that the Greek Life budget actually increases as a result of this unilaterally imposed fee. Next year’s Greek Life budget projects to run a surplus of $86,000, as no additional services will be provided. Other than being told of the projected surplus and other cryptic details of Greek Life’s future budget, the Greek community has no further knowledge of how its fees will be used, even though it asked for a complete budget before Friday’s Board of Supervisors meeting. The University has yet to provide the Greek community with the full budget and seems to have no intention of doing so.
The most disturbing issue of all is the lack of input the Greek community will have in how the unilaterally imposed fees are used. Vice Chancellors Eric Monday and Kurt Keppler both said the Greek community will have no say in how Greek Life is run, even though it will be paying — among all Greek Life expenditures — the salaries of four full-time workers, the $14,000 per year salaries for eight student workers, and the $13.50 per square foot. rent for Greek Life’s office space in the Student Union. Greek Life does not need 12 staff members to police the Greek community, yet the University is “not exploring” staff cuts to unnecessary positions within Greek Life.
Since the University is forcing the Greek community to fund one of its departments and allowing no feedback on how it is run, I ask for two signs of good faith. 
First, I would appreciate if the University demonstrates that it values Greek commitment to the University by extending new, 99-year leases to each Greek organization, solidifying Greek presence on campus for future generations. Second, I would like to see the complete, three-year, projected Greek Life budget before the fee is heard at Friday’s Board of Supervisors meeting.
This lack of good faith and common-sense approach to budget cuts by the University should offend all LSU students. Unilateral imposition of new fees is not the way to avoid making tough budget decisions. If this can happen to one of the longest-standing communities on LSU’s campus, don’t think for one second the University will stop here.
Billy Wright,
management junior