Six dollars. It may seem like an amount that is more likely to buy you a few drinks Downtown than transform Binghamton University policy. The Student Assembly decision to increase the student activity fee from $86.50 to $92.50, however, just might accomplish the latter.

The decision will be put to the students in a referendum attached to SA election ballots this Wednesday and Thursday (see Page 1). If it passes, Off Campus College Transport’s monetary problems will be alleviated and students will get better concerts next year. If it fails, however, the entire student activity fee will cease to exist. The $86.50 on the books now will disappear, and we’ll only have the $200,000 to $300,000 of the leftover retained earnings to spend for the entire year.

That won’t get us a personal interview with Lois DeFleur, let alone an actual concert.

If the SA had only waited until next year to raise the fee and survived on the original amount and the promise of retained earnings, the increase could have been voted on without this risk. There’s simply too many ways this could go wrong.

Regardless of the unnecessary gamble the SA is taking, however, there’s only one thing for us to do — vote yes. The referendum must be approved by a majority of students to pass, and we need to ensure it passes by a landslide. This $6 increase won’t break anyone’s bank; it will lead to a boost in revenue of approximately $144,000, which is proposed to be split evenly between OCCT and the programming board.

In other words, blue buses will keep running, and we’ll get better concerts. It’s that simple.

The SA originally thought they would have more than a week to campaign for this increase, but were made aware that it is unconstitutional to not put the referendum on the same ballot as SA elections. They now have only 24 hours to convince the campus.

So, we’re trying to help them out, even if they were misguided. Vote “yes.”