The Division of Student Affairs met Monday to discuss restructuring the University Park Allocation Committee (UPAC), which is the elected, student-run organization responsible for giving funds to student groups.

The plan is to add a new programming board to collaborate with student organizations to coordinate events and look into other areas that typically are under-funded. So instead of doling out money arbitrarily, UPAC would have more of an interest in the use of the funds.

The restructuring of the organization is still on the drawing board -- administrators hope to have student recommendations by April, and they continue to emphasize that nothing final about the new board's composition has been decided. But next fall, the student members may be scrapped and replaced with a board of solely administrators.

While this would seem to promote mature, fiscal responsibility within the group, restructuring the group may be just one more example of the university stripping away student power. It wasn't more than two years ago that Student Affairs took away the power to register new groups from the Undergraduate Student Government and gave it to university officials.

However, if there are problems with the allocation of funds and if UPAC continues to have difficulty distributing its money, then the administration needs to intervene.

Students are each billed a student activity fee of $53 per semester, which accounts for 75 percent of UPAC's total funds. Students need to know their $53 is going to a worthy organization that will consider all groups equally while at the same time sponsoring valuable events.

To ensure money is allocated in the best way possible, administrators should lend their expertise, but allow students to be instrumental in the process at the same time.

After all, students enroll here to gain practical experience, and the administration should realize they are not preparing anyone for the real world by simply usurping their responsibilities.