The Government of the Student Body’s proposal to cut nearly a quarter of a million dollars in student fee funding to the ISU athletic department is an applaudable attempt to use students’ economic pull with the university as a bargaining chip. However, trying to “level the playing field” in this way will never work.

In a senate resolution introduced at their meeting last week, GSB recommended the current $21 fee students pay each semester through student fees to the athletic department be reduced to $10 per semester in an effort to voice students’ displeasure with the university’s decision to move student tailgating away from the stadium.

In all, this resolution would take away about $662— 750 from the athletic department. “We need to draw the line,” Speaker of the Senate Tony Luken said in a Sept. 17 Daily article. “We can’t just be glad we have the student discount on tickets [by paying student fees], but let them change every other policy without students being consulted.”

The university has since apologized many times for not consulting with or including students in this summer’s decision to give all lots near the stadium previously reserved for general public parking to National Cyclone Club members. Students have been offered their own lot to tailgate in near the stadium, but the university’s proposition came with a price: it has to be alcohol free.

Vice President for Student Affairs Thomas Hill said he doesn’t understand why the efforts put forth by ISU officials aren’t acceptable to students, but it is simply a matter of respect. “We’ve been treated like second-class citizens, first by the athletic department with them not consulting us in their decision, and second by the university administration when they say the lot has to be alcohol-free, take it or leave it,” Luken said.

At first, cutting student funding to the athletic department may sound like a good way to make the university listen to students’ point of view, but this resolution would do more harm than good for students.

If funding for the athletic department were cut, it would cause student ticket prices to rise, and most likely a few Olympic sports would be completely cut. Such drastic measures have a huge bearing on the student population and do nothing to solve the real problem students face: an administration who isn’t willing to compromise.

It’s true — students were left out of an important decision. It’s also true that the university needs to open up to more dialogue and have more meetings with students on this issue. But the university will unfortunately always have the upper hand on students, and until they realize how important working with students really is, student complaints will continue to fall on deaf ears. Money might talk, but there’s no one listening.

Editorial Board:Nicole Paseka, Megan Hinds, Amy Schierbrock, Alicia Ebaugh