The Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Ally Alliance. The College Republicans. The Drummer.

You may agree with their viewpoints. You may not. But one thing is obvious: You are a more educated person because of them.

On Friday, Oct. 16, the Special Student Fees Committee met to discuss the system of allocating student fees at Iowa State. The committee, made up of students and administrators, reviewed cases concerning students’ First Amendment rights when it comes to funding controversial student groups.

Although the committee made no decisions, and in fact won’t make any decisions for a long time, the issue of student fees is very important to our campus and will affect each and every student.

Problems with student fee allocations came up during the last year, when a group of students at the University of Wisconsin-Madison sued the Wisconsin Board of Regents. In Southworth vs. Grebe, five students claimed their First Amendment rights were violated because their mandatory student fees were going to campus groups “which engage in political and ideological activities.”

In other words, the students didn’t like some of the groups their student fees were supporting, so they sued.

The students won the case and the appeal to the Seventh Circuit Court. However, the Board of Regents will appeal again, so nothing is set in stone.

Even though the student fee allocation systems at Wisconsin and ISU are quite different, officials at ISU are still considering the possibility that we might need some sort of alternate plan to funding student groups, so they don’t get sued like the Wisconsin schools. The officials are discussing a “check-off” system, which would give students the option to check-off campus organizations they don’t like and don’t want funded with their mandatory fees.

This system might look like a good way for GSB to give students a voice while still providing funds to campus groups. However, any kind of a system that allows people to discriminate based on ideology needs to be closely examined.

The truth is, the systems for allocating campus group funding at most universities aren’t the best. Directly funding any campus groups with mandatory student money is dangerous.

Some groups, such as trade organizations and groups supporting a particular major, will never have trouble getting funding because they don’t tend to have much opposition. Despite the “LAS vs. Engineering” debate, most English majors won’t put their feet down and refuse to fund Women in Science and Engineering.

But although those groups are definitely beneficial to students, they aren’t the ones that really cause us to grow as people.

Even if you don’t agree with the ideology of the LGBTAA, didn’t Reverse Campaniling last spring make you think about and possibly defend your own beliefs?

Even if you’re a staunch liberal, don’t the issues the College Republicans raise help you determine your own set of values and ideas?

Even if you don’t like what The Drummer prints, isn’t it important for all views to have a voice?

If we go to a “check-off” system at ISU, those groups with which you disagree might face elimination.

The groups that might be controversial — those that encourage any thought at all about any issue — are left in the precarious position of needing permission from their peers to operate.

Campus groups are always going to be political and ideological because college is a political and ideological place. Where else do so many people form and voice opinions? Where else do so many people determine ways to defend their opinions to the outside world?

By putting your mandatory student fees into the allocation pot, you contribute to the overall education at this university. You don’t have to feel threatened or violated by groups who believe things that you don’t believe; you can simply understand that a continuous debate, facilitated by campus organizations, improves your education and makes you a well-rounded person.

And, if GSB funds a group you really loathe, you have another, more important option. You can get up off your butt and vote — yes, actually vote — on GSB election day, since it allocates your money to campus groups.

It’s tempting to want to silence other people who oppose us. But resist the temptation, and remember why you’re here at this university — to learn.

Don’t ever curtail your education.

---

Sara Ziegler is a junior in journalism and mass communication from Sioux Falls, S.D. She is managing editor of the Daily.