Last week, student-run business Cholmondeley's received at last the renovation funds long sought by its staff. In last week's Justice article, General Manager Nirja Parekh '09 attributed the University's generous donation of $10,000 to "luck and timing" and the cooperation of Senior Vice President for Students and Enrollment Jean Eddy. Now, call me conspiratorially minded, but something about this situation strikes me as a little odd. No one is denying that Chum's was in desperate need of an overhaul, but the timing of the funding boost is worthy of a raised eyebrow. At a time of budgetary crisis, when the phrase pay cut is becoming common parlance, it feels like a less-than-opportune time to hand over $10,000, a hefty chunk of any professor's salary, to a less-than-key school facility. Ordinarily I would dismiss this by reasoning that there are certain funds set aside for such donations, but with the entire budget in flux and the administration shifting so much money around, we have to look at the school's funds as communal instead of sectioned. If this is the case then it raises questions about the priorities of both the school and the students. Would the administration rather cut funds for entertainment and leisure or education? Do students want another Nas concert or Prof. Flesch?

One possible explanation is public relations. With tensions rising between the administration and the student body over issues of trust and transparency, the donation of the Chum's funds might be a conciliatory measure. As a student-run facility and popular venue, Chum's may be, from the administration's perspective, a symbol of student independence and an ideal depository for some goodwill funds to smooth things over. This possibility raises questions about whether the administration is earning some so-called "political capital" in preparation for some extremely unpopular alterations in the future, some of which we already saw in the past week.

Were this, in fact, the case, what should we, the students, do about it? Well, Chum's could give the money back to the school. If nothing else, it would set an example for the rest of the students and organizations about fiscal awareness and the need to prioritize certain programs and facilities over others. Chum's could also just trust that the University has accounted for these funds appropriately and take the money that it has lobbied so hard for. Regardless, it's a precarious time in student-administration relations, and we need to consider the timing and appropriateness of the Chum's funds.