Last week Dr. Phil Brewer of Student Health Services at Quinnipiac wrote a letter expressing his displeasure with our verbiage in our story on the new hours of the health center at York Hill. While not explicitly wording it as such, Dr. Brewer was essentially telling QU students to just be grateful for what we have.

It is more than slightly disheartening that a university official would convey such a message in such a public forum.

The Student Government Association had urged the university to better staff the Rocky Top health center and I know the organization is disappointed with this cutback. SGA is essentially a student advocacy group rather than a legislative body like the name suggests. SGA’s mission is to continually push for improvements on campus, even if it means that Dr. Brewer needs to figure out a way to staff the new health center.

Dr. Brewer wrote that “rather than showing appreciation for the improved services, the reporter chose to emphasize her view that opening a satellite service with limited hours is somehow a disservice to students.” This satellite service provides a safety net for the thousands of residents at York Hill. To give statistics that the center is underutilized during its first few weeks of operation is misleading. We are not yet in flu season. People do not plan for catastrophic events that the health center could be of great assistance in.

We will not simply be happy with the services offered by the university. We are grateful for the improvements that Quinnipiac is making, that much is without question. We are fortunate to be at a private university that is willing to work with its student leaders to make the campus a better place to live. By the same token, as students who pay $36,130 in tuition and $11,790 for room and board to live at York Hill, we have a right, if not a duty to continually press the university for constant improvements to student life.

It is unfortunate Dr. Brewer wants to perpetuate status-quo thinking.