Seems to me that there is great distress in the land of academics over the GSB’s idea to defund several publications here on campus. Since money does not grow on trees, GSB is left with two options: defund some operations or raise money. I wonder how hard the (Daily) Editorial Board will blow the trumpet of progress if GSB decides to raise student fees to cover the Daily’s expenditures.

The decision to defund some student newspapers is not meant to be restrictive or punitive, rather it is a consequence of a harsh reality: there is no such thing as a free lunch. If the Daily considers that its words and opinions are important enough for us to see and digest, perhaps it should redefine itself as a BUSINESS and not as a PARASITE, and actually sell the product. If you cannot make it in the business world, perhaps you should consider what you publish to be unimportant, and you will have to work harder to make your nickel. This is called free enterprise, not the free entitlement you are quite used to.

I fully support the GSB’s role in the reduction of funding. Find some other sources of income. Better yet, consider some costs your staff can eliminate. Ever notice how many Daily’s are scattered on the lawn as litter? Or in the trash can? Yes, the paper is read daily, but then it is thrown out. Did you know the Daily is on the WWW? It is: http://www.daily.iastate.edu. Perhaps your first order of business would be to stop printing the paper on consumable natural resources. I bet you could save a lot of money doing that, and still afford coffee and doughnuts in the office.

As for the Drummer and ethos and other magazines, they will have to do what is necessary to survive as well. I personally don’t read the Drummer, as I hold obvious conservative views, but I don’t think it should be extinguished either. Remember that conservativism doesn’t mean restrictive, it means responsible.

There is no such thing as a free lunch. Yes, we do have free speech, and we have the ability to print whatever we want. But we do not have the right to assume that someone else is going to pay for it — that is arrogance. We do not have the right to expect someone else to read it — that would conflict with personal choice.

And some of us don’t have the patience to watch you moan and complain about it. Remember, with your reduced funding, your ink and paper is now an endangered resource.

Christian Reynolds

Senior

Computer Science