As planners and constituents of the off-campus student union, we would like to respond to the Oct. 30 staff editorial regarding the union. We feel that representing more than 25,000 students living off campus is of great importance and absolutely worth whatever extra effort it takes.

The Undergraduate Student Government has been making efforts to work on issues through town caucus and the town affairs, legal affairs and governmental relations departments. To cohesively accomplish the many goals we have, it's important to have a unified body to focus solely on off-campus. It's not a matter of office space as stated, but rather of recruitment and establishing a strong foundation that will last.

To write an opinion about an initiative without the proper information is a disservice to the student body. How can The Daily Collegian form an opinion of the union when it has only done enough research for one article that was an eighth of a page? It's our hope that students will look beyond this and realize the potential this organization has.

Some of the services to be provided include an apartment guide, an annual housing fair, downtown entertainment, advocacy against surveillance cameras, better communication between landlords and tenants, consumer reports on businesses and apartments, legal advice, election information, voter recruitment and more.

However, it seems little to none of this has even been mentioned in the Collegian at all.

Why is this?