Notes from the Desk

Author: Zamir Ahmed

The Finance Committee cut the funding for most of the student organizations on campus this fall in order to fund them all through the Student Activities Fee (SAF). Funding was not cut, however, to one major program that drains money from the fund and is underused by the student body.

I'm speaking of the Napster program that was last reported to cost students about $20,000 per year straight out of the SAF. An exact figure is unknown because the agreement with Napster prevents the disclosure of how much the program costs. All students contribute to this fee, although it is clear from talking to students that only a minority use the service and that students who do use Napster do so inconsistently.

The money for Napster could have been used to fund the groups that had their budgets cut, many of whom felt that their budgets were already too small. These groups provide more entertainment options and a greater variety of opportunities for students than the Napster program does, and some of them actually do provide alternative musical options to students. One of these is WRMC, which cut the number of concerts it holds this year to one, and even then its concert budget is less than the cost of its spring concert last year.

I understand the need to combat illegal downloading. I just do not think Napster is doing the job. In an informal poll conducted by The Campus last year after Napster was implemented, two-thirds of respondents said that they had still used the College network for illegal downloading.

While Napster provides a place to find a lot of music students are searching for, it does not provide movies or television shows for download while other programs such as iTunes have recently begun providing these. In that case, why would students who have access to these programs choose Napster instead?

It's time for the SGA to review the Napster program and decide if it really is the best option for students. In my opinion, it's not worth the valuable resources it takes away from the community.