Should students be questioning the increase of their student activity fee, as indicated by the Collegian editorial, "Student outrage critical," July 21? Of course. It's the responsibility of every student to take an interest in what Penn State is doing with their money. However, the Collegian grossly misrepresents the intent of the Student Programming Association, claiming in part that Vice President for Student Affairs Vicky Triponey and others "[don't] have enough respect for you to allow you to coordinate activities and programs on your own." On the contrary. One of the biggest problems with running a student organization is a concept known as "institutional memory," which refers to the passing of operational knowledge from one year to another. How can an organization best make use of university offices and resources? What is the best way to prepare, submit and seek approval for a budget? The Student Programming Association seeks to address these issues by creating a central knowledge base that incoming officers and organization members can use as a resource.

Complain about a lack of funding, complain about UPAC's more stringent allocation policies, but get your facts straight if you're going to start accusing the motives of an organization whose explicit mission is the opposite of "ruining the future of student-run programming."