When the school’s American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) tried to book the Eagle Theatre, it found the process comparable to navigating a maze of thorny shrubs.

After a month of unanswered e-mails, it took a phone call and another week for the theater manager to finally give the single feasible date: April 30.

Considering that the Eagle Theatre is a school resource, it is appalling that campus organizations must fight to get a slot, especially when the theater is so often rented to outside groups (which are charged more for the theater use and thus more profitable).

The administration, which encourages all students to be involved with clubs, is not fulfilling its obligation to help those clubs develop and mature. The administration should adopt a philosophy that favors the best interests of the students, not money and convenience.

However, that is not currently the case. The Lacrosse Club has not played a single game at this school because the man in charge of supervising lunchtime games has been practically unreachable for weeks. Excessive transportation fees, which were doubled earlier this year, are burdensome for organizations like Mock Trial.  If the school were more concerned with its student groups and less concerned with the time and money it might lose helping them, neither of these examples would exist.

Consider the consequences of this philosophy. The students in the clubs are unable to foster qualities like responsibility and teamwork that arise from planning events or playing games. Additionally, students who would attend these events no longer get the benefit of learning from or enjoying them.

The Green Team is denied the opportunity to spread awareness about environmental issues because it too was offered severely limited use of the Eagle Theatre. The ACLU Club cannot offer a free movie night to students.

The staff needs to reconsider the message it is sending—that students come second. Instead of leaving clubs to fend for themselves, it should get involved and make sure they are able to utilize the full benefits of being a student group at this school—even if it means returning a few pesky e-mails.