The importance of many local issues facing ISU students means I won’t get to focus on national or international arenas this week, which is just as well because nothing too newsworthy has happened. Just the usual plane crashes and bubonic plague outbreaks.

That being said, I have to offer my thoughts concerning both Brown Route funding and the Inter-Residence Hall Association ethernet bill.

On the matter of the Brown Route, I think I agree with every sane and rational person in arguing that Towers students should not be forced to pay to ride the bus. They should pay no extra cost compared to a student living in Friley or Helser.

The people who refuse to fund the Brown Route are nothing but money-grubbing and pocket-pinching misers whose vision extends no further than the tip of their own nose.

Points raised concerning group funding for projects that benefit only a certain group of students still hold valid, and just like before, I think the entire group should pay out of its collective pocket. To pick and choose one’s pet projects would lead to a breakdown of the funding system.

The fact that only Towers residents may ride the Brown Route does not impact the argument. Consider that every student pays roughly the same amount of money to attend this college, but by luck of the draw a certain percentage ends up in exile out at Towers.

Although I do not mean to insult the upstanding residents of Towers, the simple fact of their geographic location in relation to the rest of campus makes pedestrian travel a real bitch.

However, due to the whims of somebody in the housing office, some students end up where they might not prefer to be, and are inconvenienced by not being able to walk to class in a reasonable amount of time.

On top of that, the university (or Government of the Student Body or whoever) wants to charge them for the privilege of riding a bus when such an option is the only logical solution to their problem.

Not to put too fine a point on it, but what the hell have some people been smoking? The students who end up by chance on the far edge of campus should not have to pay extra just because poor community planning forces them to take the bus!

Hell, Jischke lives closer to campus than I do and he still drives his damn car to Beardshear every day, which, when you consider that it is a one way road, is one hell of a long drive.

We figured out that Jischke has to go out to Lincoln Way, drive around and come in the back side of campus to get to his pretty parking spot, which he pays five hundred dollars a month for. Maybe he should help fund the Brown Route!

While I have heard some people equate this situation to the extra costs paid by residents with air-conditioning, I do not think the situations are analogous. One is a creature comfort not common to the rest of campus.

It is not the same as busing a few people when everyone else can walk.

Besides, they fought to get those air-conditioned rooms. I doubt many people looked at a map and chose Towers as their first housing preference.

The other issue of importance concerns IRHA and the proposal to move to a flat rate for ethernet use for everyone. Two years ago they did the same thing with television cable access. Then, as now, the argument was fierce.

The question that needs to be asked is whether the situations are similar.

By and large, that answer is no.

Television has been a staple of American culture for the past fifty years, and almost every household across America has one. So, two years ago, it was assumed by the Department of Residence that every student had a television, and as such it was logical to charge everyone for the use of local cable.

But computers are relatively new inventions and most people do not have one. Not even most college students. As such, it is illogical for the Department of Residence to assume that everyone has one and soak the non-users with additional costs.

The cost you pay in your telecommunications bill is for your single computer to be hooked up and on the network. If there are two computers in a room, you pay for two.

To charge every person, whether they own a computer or not, defeats the notion that personal computers are a luxury, not a necessity.

Besides, the Department of Residence already charges you for the privilege of using the computer labs, even if you never use one during your years here. Yet they assume that you will use a community resource, and therefore you should pay for it.

However, private computers in rooms are not for public access and the people who bring them here do so of their own volition.

Supporters of the bill argue that people who don’t have a computer end up using other people’s Internet access anyway, and because of that everyone should pay. But when we pay a flat rate for Internet access, we are paying for unrestricted access for our computer, not just a few hours a day.

That means whenever we want, for as long as we want. If I can surf the web for days at a time, so be it. That is what I am paying for.

If somebody wants to walk down the hall and use my computer, what difference does it make to the telecommunications office who is using it? I paid for one internet connection, and that is what is being used.

Besides, to assume that all that bandwidth is being taken up by multiple users impinges the reputation of geeks and nerds across our fair campus.

In reality, the flat rate for everyone will lower the costs for us computer owners. If I was a self-centered bastard I would vote according to my pocketbook and screw over everyone without a computer.

But I believe in the golden rule, as well as fairness, and as such cannot support the bill for a flat rate. I encourage everyone else to do the same.

That being said, I think the Brown Route busing is a side effect of poor community planning and luck of the draw. The university is responsible for this mess and they should pick up the entire tab.

Perhaps those philanthropic families should spend their money on something worthwhile instead of trying to achieve immortality by having a building named after them.

As for the IRHA ethernet bill, personal computer usage is a privilege and you should pay for it on an individual basis.

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Aaron Woell is a senior in political science from Bolingbrook, Ill.