To the Editor:
The Polity spring elections start this week, and all undergraduate Stony Brookstudents will be able to vote starting Tuesday through Friday.
In addition to voting in candidates for Polity next year, there are severalother important questions on the ballot.
NYPIRG, the New York Public Interest Research Group, is the reason for twoof those questions. The first of the questions involves keeping a chapter ofNYPIRG at its current level of funding of $3 per student semester. The secondquestion will increase that $3 to $6 a semester.
We’#146;re asking all Stony Brook students to vote YES on both questions.
This will be the first time NYPIRG has asked for an increase in nearly 20 years,at a time when some of Stony Brook’#146;s students weren’#146;t even born yet.Since then, inflation and increased costs have made the original $3 worth abouthalf. Here are some reasons why NYPIRG deserves an increase:
‘#149;NYPIRG works really hard to protect higher education funding, and hasprevented thousands of dollars of tuition increases and cuts to financial aid.Working with students of EOP, USSA, and SASU, we continue to fight for increasedfunding for opportunity programs, more full-time faculty, and lower tuitioncosts.
‘#149;NYPIRG has registered thousands of students over the years, including3000 at Stony Brook in the last two years alone. We also work hard to make surethose students actually vote and are educated on candidates and their issues.
‘#149;While working with such groups as the Inter Fraternity Sorority Council,Catholic Campus Ministry, and Hillel, we have organized efforts to provide forthose in need through food and clothing drives like Stuff-A-Bus, PB&J Jam,Trick-or-Eat, and ‘Got Points?’ end of semester food collection.
‘#149;NYPIRG organizes with other student groups such as the Commuter StudentAssociation and the Feminist Majority to protect the environment, bring an endto sweatshop labor abuses, and protect consumers from things like unsafe productsand outrageous bank surcharges.
‘#149;We also train students how to get involved in issues they care about.Offering a 3-credit internship program, students can get involved with NYPIRGand learn how to organize within the campus and local community to create positivesocial change.
By voting yes on Question #2 to increase NYPIRG’#146;s funding by $3, voterswill help NYPIRG achieve more than ever before. With the additional resourcesNYPIRG will be able to train more students to fight for their rights, organizemore events with student groups on campus, and win more protections for students,consumers, and the environment. Give NYPIRG your votes this week, and in returnStony Brook will get decades more of proactive, organized students fightingfor what’#146;s right.
Vote YES on Questions #1 AND #2.
Vote YES for NYPIRG.
Meagen Reeve
NYPIRG President
