The Government of the Student Body will debate tonight whether the Interfraternity Council benefits the entire student body.

IFC requested funding from GSB’s special projects fund to purchase an upgraded computer.

Special projects money is supposed to be allocated to “capital improvements and capital expenditures that directly benefit all students and student organizations at Iowa State University,” according to the GSB bylaws.

Jeremy Williams, finance director, said the special projects money also must go to projects costing over $2500.

The IFC computer upgrade was discussed last semester in the senate, but a decision was postponed.

Kate Kjergaard, LAS, said she felt the computer systems requested needed to be re-examined.

“It seemed like the computers they were asking for weren’t researched enough,” Kjergaard said. “It seems like they had a high capacity for certain [unnecessary] things, and other things they needed were lacking.”

Kjergaard also said she thought the IFC computer money should come out of senate discretionary instead of special projects.

“The question always arises about whether it benefits all students, and students feel differently about that,” she said.

“LAS voices the argument that a computer for IFC or [Panhellenic Council] maybe isn’t in the best interest of all students,” Kjergaard said.

Kjergaard added that, as a member of the greek system, she thinks it is an advantage to the university.

Williams also said he felt the issue of benefit to the entire campus would be a topic of debate.

“I think IFC does activities that could benefit all students, but then you have the argument that IFC isn’t open to everybody,” he said.

Williams said the bill could be amended during senate debate to make the funds come out of senate discretionary instead of special projects.

Kjergaard expressed concern that GSB “shouldn’t be in the computer-buying business.”

“When [students] put their student fees into ISU, we allocate a lot of that money to the Memorial Union. The MU is responsible for supplying phones and computers,” Kjergaard said.

The IFC office is in the West Student Office Space at the Memorial Union.

Williams said he believes some student organizations need their own computers.

“I agree some groups do need computers because there’s some privacy issues and convenience issues,” Williams said.

Williams cited viruses and poor computer maintenance in labs as reasons student organizations may need private computers.

“Computers are becoming so cheap, it’s not a bad thing for [GSB] to buy. There could be worse things we could spend ourmoney on,” he said.

“I don’t want people to be abusing it, though,” Williams said.