With great budget comes great responsibility
This year, Rice Program Council's budget has increased from $35,000 to $130,000 - a whopping increase (see story, page 1). The reason for this budget hike is that certain programs such as Passport to Houston and the President's and Dean's Study Breaks have been moved under the jurisdiction of RPC.Whereas in the past RPC was mainly in charge of small on-campus events like Esperanza, Rondelet and a few tailgates, this year's change is huge - and it could either be a grand success for RPC or a grand failure.
RPC has had problems getting students to attend its formal dances Esperanza and Rondelet in the recent past, even having to cancel Rondelet for a year because of dwindling attendance and increasing debt ("Rondelet Cancelled," March 23, 2007). And while we have criticized RPC for its inability to choose a proper venue for a dance while keeping ticket prices low ("Formal Requests," March 23, 2007), we would like to put that behind us and look towards the great things RPC could possibly accomplish with this new budget and emphasis on student input.
On-campus concerts and entertainment, off-campus parties, symphony and opera tickets, sporting events, museum trips - the possibilities are many and varied. The burden is now on RPC to go to students for ideas, to increase its visibility and prestige on campus. With its newfound budget, RPC has the chance to make itself one of the most active and most respected organizations at Rice. What events are in store? Only time will tell.
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