There’s a reason parents don’t let kids decide their own bedtimes. They’d never go to bed.

The same logic should be applied to Oakland University Student Congress’ control over the student activities fee.

On March 7, the Student Activity Fund Assessment Committee passed a proposal to up the student activities fee to $30 from $25.

A week later, it passed a proposal to support giving The Oakland Post an additional 1 percent of the fund — 0.2 percent would be taken each from OUSC, Student Activities Funding Board, Student Program Board, Student Video Productions and the special projects fund.

The 0.2 percent transfer from the special projects fund was approved.

At its Monday meeting, the OUSC legislature voted to prevent the rest of the proposal from appearing on the upcoming election ballot.

Only the former proposal, however, will be on the ballot during student elections March 28-30 (see our center spread on pages 12 and 13 to read about that).

Student body president Brandon Gustafson argued that multiple proposals on a similar issue would confuse students and that we should stick to a “straightforward” ballot.

Understandable. But it shouldn’t be up to OUSC what would or would not confuse students.

What’s really confusing is why it’s up to OUSC, which takes a 16 percent cut of the student activities fund, to determine the

future of a SAFAC proposal anyway.

We have no reason to believe OUSC’s vote was financially motivated, but regardless of who would be gaining or losing percentages, a proposal’s fate shouldn’t be left up to a group who has a stake in the issue. That’s a clear conflict of interest.

If a proposal reaches the ballot, students would then vote on it, but students won’t get that opportunity with this SAFAC proposal.

Are you following this process clearly? Don’t worry. We couldn’t either as it unfolded before us.

This editorial isn’t about whether The Oakland Post deserved an additional 1

percent; it’s about the convoluted process of placing items similar to it onto the ballot.

The committee is made up of eight voting members who represent each of the directly funded organizations.

In addition to The Oakland Post and OUSC, WXOU radio, SVP, SPB, Student Life Lecture Board, the Student Activities Funding Board and club sports each have a representative on the committee.

Each year, the committee meets in order to update other organizations and their advisers. It is an evaluation of sorts of how student activity fee money is used.

All changes to percentage divisions must first be approved through a vote done by SAFAC. If passed, it then goes to OUSC’s legislature for further approval.

Granting OUSC that authority is as arbitrary as allowing the members of any of the other SAFAC organizations to decide on the fate of a measure proposed at these meetings.

There is no need for an intermediary between SAFAC and students.

Did you ever have to ask your siblings for five more minutes of TV time before your parents decided on that bedtime?