The annual Battle of the Valleys competition between Grand Valley State University and Saginaw Valley State University isn’t so much about the competition between the two schools as it is about raising money for a charitable cause.

That is to say, the most important factor in each year’s competition is that a pair of organizations get to benefit from the efforts of two student bodies each year.

But it still is disheartening to see how consistently and soundly Saginaw Valley has been able to beat GVSU in recent years. The Cardinals now own a 6-3 lead over us, including a four-year winning streak that last year saw Saginaw Valley outgain us by a $27,588 margin, the largest in competition history. But at 10,790, Saginaw Valley’s total enrollment for the Fall 2011 semester isn’t even half that of GVSU’s.

It’s become apparent that our fundraising system for the BOTV competition needs to be revamped, and there are a few things that the GVSU Student Senate could do better, but there’s only so much that it can do. It needs to be backed fully and absolutely by the GVSU students if we are to have any shot and overcoming our recent slump in the competition.

College students have it rough – we all know that – but at least they have future goals and plans to look forward to. The children that benefit from the Make-A-Wish Foundation face life-threatening injuries at tender ages. These are tough times, but are things really to the point where it is too much trouble for students to be able to spare an extra debit dollar or two when they pick up their coffee at the Kirkhof Lobby Shop to help a little girl with terminal cancer go to Disney World?