I hope that one of my fears isn't coming to reality.

You see, I'm still a concerned member of the RIT Student Music Association. Things that concern RITSMA concern me. We've heard rumors that a competing music club was going to be forming on campus. Note, I don't think it's bad that music groups form at RIT. Music is good, damn good, and we need more people involved in music at RIT.

Unfortunatley, the problem we're facing is dilution. A second "music association" or whatever they are calling themselves will only create additional fracturing of any possible membership base, and leat to two non-viable clubs in the future.

The sad fact of the matter is that for political reasons, one group decided to splinter from another group. Unfortunatley, the RIT Student Government Club Review Board has granted this other club recognition, despite the clearly defined regulation for recognition rules. Specifically:

SG will only grant recognition to one group for any given interest. Proposed groups sharing similar interests and constitutional goals with a recognized group will be encouraged to cooperate with the recognized group to promote their common interests.

Unfortunatley, for this new group, it is the Student Music Association that exists to support and promote music. Read the Club Constitution.

There is a real problem with dilution at RIT. A lot of the formerly strong clubs at RIT are getting hurt because of it. RWAG is being hurt in membership because of the Electronic Gamers Society. The RIT Players are being hurt in membership by the RIT Women's Center Theatre group.

We're all hurting because all these groups are trying to crowd into too tiny a space. RITSMA has been dilligently working to improve our relationship with other students and directors.

It seems that some people have given up trying to work *with* us, and are now working *against* us.

We have to be careful. We want these guys to be a part of us. We want to be a part of them. I've been RITSMA long enough to know that what's really seperating the two groups is bad blood. But I haven't been around long enough to know what caused that bad blood. I think there are only 4 people who have been around long enough, and two of them retired nearly 2 years ago...

If we're not careful, we're going to slit each other's throats, and we're *both* going to bleed to death.