Future funding of Iowa State’s student radio station KURE (88.5 FM) was a topic of discussion at Thursday night’s Inter-Residence Hall Association meeting.

IRHA is considering discontinuing its financial support of KURE, leaving the Government of the Student Body as the station’s sole source of funding.

Currently, IRHA accounts for 40 percent of the station’s budget, and GSB provides 60 percent.

“None of us want to shut KURE down or deny them funding; we would just like to question the way that they get funding,” said Ben Chamberlain, IRHA president and senior in agricultural studies. “The way it is set up now, the students in residence halls are actually paying twice, and since KURE benefits both the community and the residence halls, we think [the funding] might not be fair.”

Students in the residence halls pay dues for both IRHA and GSB, so they pay for a greater percentage of KURE’s funding than off-campus students, who pay dues only to GSB.

“KURE doesn’t do anything special for the residence halls, so the residence halls don’t need to be bearing 100 percent of the funding,” said Eric Anderson, Towers Residence Hall Association president and senior in computer engineering.

Anderson said KURE takes about half of IRHA’s budget.

He said residents currently pay $3 per semester in dues for IRHA. If KURE’s funding was cut, Anderson said it would drop dues to $1.50 per semester.

Lewis Hendrickson, KURE assistant treasurer and general manager nominee, said he hopes IRHA still partially funds KURE.

“It would be really impossible to put all the funding over on GSB,” said Hendrickson, senior in accounting. “I would like to see the funding stay about the same, although with maybe IRHA paying a little less.”

Anderson said IRHA will continue to fund KURE for spring semester, and possibly longer if GSB will not fund the full amount.

GSB President Bryan Burkhardt said the determination of funding will be a negotiating process.

“We would want to make sure it would be the best thing for the station and the residence halls before we make any decisions,” he said.

Burkhardt said the main reason GSB and IRHA share the funding for KURE is because the station is housed in Friley Hall.

However, Chamberlain said the reason KURE is still partially funded by IRHA may stem from tradition.

“Things just kind of keep going,” he said. “My inclination might be that when KURE started in Friley, the residence hall government just kind of picked it up.”

IRHA also currently has authority over KURE’s authorization document, which describes rules and organization of the station.

“[Right now] we oversee everything, and I’d like to give the oversight duties to their board of directors,” Anderson said. “It’s kind of stupid to be making decisions when we don’t know anything about their radio, and they do.”

Chamberlain said if GSB will not fully fund KURE, it is possible, but not likely, that the station would be shut down.

“Yes, it is possible, but we don’t want that to happen, and we won’t let that happen,” he said.