There is no denying the University is in a bit of a bind these days. We need to find a significant amount of money ($28 million is the last number reported) and dorms are getting more and more cramped – Christie Wright Patterson and Marsh Austin Tupper have seen their lounges go to forced triples and now forced quads.The administration is busy working toward a solution that’s emphasizing expansion and we’re wary. Bigger isn’t always better. There has and continues to be emphasis on growth: bigger class sizes, bigger buildings, bigger student population and bigger tuition are a few of the exploding numbers on campus. Probably the biggest growth, however, is the distance between the administration and the rest of the University community. With this distance comes increased scapegoating, misinformation and a whole lot of worrying over what comes next.What about us – the students and faculty of UVM? This is an institution chock full of young, intelligent minds ready to leave this place and make an impact on the community.Why wait?This is our community now, why doesn’t the administration let us take a crack at it? We are literally a haven of intelligence. With nearly 10,000 students and 1,400 faculty and staff, there has got to be a couple of good ideas floating around. Take the SGA, for example: While as a collective body they can often prove cumbersome and out of touch, several individual senators have created a bill to remove all of the landlines from the dorms. If and when the bill passes on Feb. 3, the University is looking at nearly $500,000 in yearly savings on an outdated utility.If we are able to look at this problem from more than one viewpoint, then we might be able to combine solutions in an effort that is significantly less stressful on the University as a whole and may even make us come out a stronger and more streamlined institution. There is a business school full of experts and fresh faces ready to get their ideas out there, we have a renowned Environmental Studies program focused on sustainability and mediation, there are so many people with so many ideas – the opportunities are endless.We need to channel the collective intelligence of the University to tackle this issue. Classes should be created, forums should be held and mediums of communication should be opened. We are training future leaders here, why not let them get some real practice?