It is the responsibility of the Residence Halls Association to keep close tabs on how student tax money is being used.

After five years of having a contract with Waste Management for the campus recycling program, RHA is doubting whether the collected materials were recycled last year.

When it comes to a budget of more than $10,000 devoted to improving the planet through recycling, RHA should know all the program's details. RHA will not re-sign with Waste Management and instead plans to sign an agreement with the MSU Office of Recycling and Waste Management by the end of the month.

Praise should be given to RHA for owning up to their mistakes. They followed the necessary chain of events: They found a problem, owned up to it, complained, there was no change and now they are moving on to another provider.

But when RHA collects a $21 tax every semester to provide students with a recycling and movie program, every dime should be accounted for.

This is not the first time RHA has been left in the dark about program operations. RHA officials announced the $82,500 movie budget - which funds free on-campus movie rentals and the Campus Center weekend cinema - was overspent by about $10,500 in the spring of 2002.

The budget shortfall forced residence hall movie offices to be shut down and their employees laid off. Former RHA President Tim Liss had attributed the problem to financial records not being kept in a central location. The movie program was reinstated last October under a new executive board and management.

But time and time again, another one of RHA's programs stumbles into problems.

If RHA does partner with the MSU Office of Recycling and Waste Management, it will at least guarantee continued recycling possibilities for students. But at the same time it will limit items to newspaper only.

The organization should take this problem seriously and begin to look into ways to continue recycling to the same standards students thought to have been accustomed.