Imagine this: A new group called the University of Oregon Gun Club has just been granted a $128,000-per-year budget from student incidental fees. The group brings a few speakers to campus, sponsors some gun-safety classes and a couple of internships. But 95 percent of its budget is sent off to the National Rifle Association to help pay for lobbyists writing and researching for pro-gun legislation.
Does this scenario aggravate you?
Well if it does, you are opposed to paying incidental fees to support groups and causes that you may not agree with. Incidental fees have been around for years to help fund student groups, but ever since the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Southworth vs. the University of Wisconsin about a year ago that told the university to uphold its fee system, all hell has broken loose. Before the ruling, the University of Wisconsin did not give any money to groups that endorsed political or religious views, but now all groups are allowed access to these funds.
The more than $500 per year, per student incidental fee pays for things that students may not have realized or even known about. During the lovely fall season, many people show up to the ticket counter in the EMU to show their Duck pride and get their football tickets. I know when I first started getting tickets, I had a refreshing feeling thinking that I was getting something free for once, but then I was let in on a little secret. Those tickets have already been paid for by students through incidental fees.
This may not be a problem for those students who wish to partake in the chaos known as a football game, but for those students who attend the University for exclusively academic motives, it could be objectionable. Have you ever showed up to the ticket booth to find out that all of the tickets are gone? Well, you paid for a ticket that does not exist.
Students should not have to pay for sports tickets if they choose not to attend the events, or want to attend but cannot because the tickets are gone. Why not just have students buy tickets when they want them?
Most of the student groups on campus accept incidental fees. Some of them include the College Democrats, Justice For All (an anti-abortion group) and Students For Choice (a pro-choice group). Even if you do not politically support the views of these groups, you are supporting them financially. Maybe instead of accepting these fees, the groups should charge dues. That way, people who do not want to get involved don’t have to pay for it.
One of the most controversial groups, when it comes to incidental fees, is OSPIRG. The Oregon Student Public Interest Research Group receives $128,000 of our money from fees, and the way it’s used stirs up a debate. According to the Jan. 31 issue of the Emerald, OSPIRG sends the $128,000 up to Portland to pay for statewide causes. Student members of OSPIRG at the University take advantage of the resources and staff for local causes, but most of the money pays for office space and staff to work on legislation that OSPIRG supports. The problem with this picture is that barely any of the student dollars stay here on campus. Can you imagine how much cleaner this area would be if OSPIRG kept the money here? Instead of asking for donations to help clean the Willamette River, why don’t they use the incidental fees they get? Students do not need to be paying for things that are being done elsewhere.
Another group that gets student money is The Insurgent, a very liberal campus newspaper. Recently, the newspaper ran an insert from the Animal Liberation Front, which included instructions on how to break into laboratories and cost laboratories money without getting caught. The Insurgent also included the names and addresses of several biologists and research scientists who conduct tests on animals. Do you want your money going toward these kinds of activities? I know I don’t.
What if a Nazi group or the Ku Klux Klan wanted to come to campus? They would have every right to these funds, and students would be supporting racially discriminating activities.
Incidental fees are fundamentally wrong. We live in a nation which prides itself on freedom of speech, and it is a sad day for our country when students are not allowed that freedom but are forced to pay for activities in which they do not believe or do not wish to partake.