acm@LOCUS.UCLA.EDU (08/13/86)
(Please note that a version of this letter will be sent to the ACM Council
and the Communications of the ACM as well as the Student Chapters Comm.)
August 9, 1986
To whom it may concern:
On behalf of the membership of the UCLA Student Chapter, I wish to
most bitterly protest the planned increase in student membership
dues. Currently, the cost for annual student membership is $15.
As of October 1, 1986, this rate will be doubled to $30 per year.
(CACM, v. 29, n. 8, p. 710).
I realize that the dues for members and associate members will also
be increased (from $50 to $65) while many activities and other ACM
supported events will incur reduced funding due to ACM's "large
revenue shortfall". That all members, student or otherwise, should
share some of the burden is truly understandable. However, I believe
that this 100% increase in student dues is very short sighted.
We are all used to hearing about the plight of many students who are
always financially desperate and struggling to make ends meet.
I wonder how many people do not believe this. I have to. I happen to
be one of those students who tries to go to school and attempts to
survive by working on supported research. I also am proud to be a
student member of the ACM both through the ACM and here at the UCLA
Chapter. As well, I know several other students here who are in the
same financial predicament that I am. Unfortunately, they are no longer
interested in the ACM any more since they learned about the
increase in annual dues. They wonder why the student members must
bear such a large portion of the "shortfall". They also do not plan
to renew their student membership when it expires nor are they very
interested in participating in the UCLA Student Chapter's activities.
A possible motivating factor for increasing the base student
membership fee might be the number of students currently members of
the ACM. If we accept the figure of approximately 67,000 members
currently within the ACM (CACM, v. 29, n. 8, p. A-5) and
approximately 41,100 members who are not students (CACM, v. 29, n. 8,
p. A-26), then we must conclude that there are 25,900 non-voting
members. If we assume that about half are associate members,
then we have approximately 13,000 student members. Currently, if
each student pays at least $15 per year, then the gross revenue is
$195,000. By doubling that value, the ACM might expect $390,000 next
year from just students paying the base student rate.
Since I received the August 1986 issue of the Communications, I have
been trying to ask all the student members that I know what they plan
to do now. At least half have stated that they do not plan to renew
their national membership while a third have informed me that they
do not forsee joining the UCLA Student Chapter primarily because of
the 100% increase in dues for ACM itself. If we take as a rule to
apply to the world wide student membership, we then are faced with
a few conclusions. One is that the increase in the base membership
rate will probably not increase revenue to the ACM. Another is that
students will not be participating in as many activities in either
chapters or in the ACM as a whole. Still another is that revenues
for SIGs and chapters will not be helped by the loss of students.
Finally, many students who will become professionals and researchers
in the field of computing no longer feel any compelling urgency to
become a member of the ACM because the ACM cannot be trusted to
fulfill its obligation to a large, yet underrepresented, portion of
its membership.
Sincerely,
David E. Lee
past UCLA ACM Chairman (1984-86)
4801 Boelter Hall
UCLA
Los Angeles, CA 90024
(213) 825-7597
(ARPA: acm@locus.ucla.edu)
p.s. The ACM might also be compared to other societies and their rates.
I am a student member of several other professional societies
such as the IEEE, SME, and SWE. The maximum base rate charged by
any of these is $15.00 per year.
David E. Lee
UCLA ACM Chairman UUCP: ...!{...}!ucla-cs!acm
4801 Boelter Hall ARPA: acm@LOCUS.UCLA.EDU
Los Angeles, CA 90024 VOICE: (213) 825-7597