Internet charge refutation

In refutation to Hakan Seber’s letter yesterday, I would like to say that business is about comparison not absolute value. BU is a large university in the middle of a thriving city where Internet companies compete to provide it with very cheap wholesale Internet costs, so it is almost unreasonable to be comparing it with a typical “$60 per month” residential connection. In a fairer level of comparison, Harvard residential housing totals $8900 including meals, phone line and Internet costs; whereas BU totals $10,000 for a suite including only meals. I understand that arguing so passionately about a $100 extra cost seems petty, but it is part of a larger issue – similar to my intentionally (but it seems Mr. Seber didn’t notice) sarcastic comment about needing to pay for flushing the toilets. I just wanted to speak my opinion so that maybe the Office of Comptroller will try a bit harder next time to find more ways to finance the increased costs to deal with further issues, such as the previously mentioned “housing costs, which go up every year because people leave lights on or the heat on with the windows open”. Conservatory methods, requesting for more external funding from donators, obtaining funding through student activities, to name a few. Making us pay is no doubt the quickest short-term method to deal with this situation. They could have at the very least warned us about it before we handed in our deposits for next semester’s housing. Although I would admit that Mr. Seber has a good arguement and I thank him for his opinion; but I hope that he will not point his finger at me because no one knows the facts concerning where all the money goes. It was just an opinion that I wanted to share – hopefully to make a slight difference?

Hilda Tam SMG ’05 (617) 869 6794