Iowa State Daily Editorial Board: Troy McCullough, Tim Davis, Jennifer Holland, Kathleen Carlson and Jenny Hykes.

After some serious re-thinking, the Government of the Student Body has decided to spare The Drummer from the budgetary axe.

The Drummer, a campus publication that is generally considered left-wing, was the only organization sent back at a previous GSB meeting with a Senate request to decrease its funding.

After last Tuesday’s financial hearing, the GSB finance committee voted to maintain The Drummer’s funding (actually increasing it by two cents in a meaningless gesture), contrary to the Senate’s earlier decision.

The Senate then approved the funding bill that addressed the The Drummer financial issue, 21-2.

It was nice to see GSB rethink its earlier decision and go ahead with funding The Drummer. Allegations made about the publication’s limited readership are debatable, and the accusation that it was a waste of paper to print it are faulty.

Any time an organization can offer a viewpoint on today’s political world, it cannot be considered a waste. Whether one supports or opposes the stance of The Drummer is not an issue inherent to the funding process.

The issue was, does the organization deserve funding as defined by the rules in GSB’s funding criteria, and can the organization serve Iowa State University in some form?

As GSB agreed last week, the answers to both of these questions was and is a resounding yes.