In light of the recent formation of political groups on campus and the continued activities of religious organizations, the editorial board stands by the current Union policy prohibiting the awarding of funding for clubs that are specifically political or religious in purpose. The Union should remain unbiased by not financially supporting these groups.
The issue of awarding religious and political groups Union funding came up at a recent Senate meeting. In 1996, the Student Senate approved a motion denying all religious and political groups funding. While the current Student Senate has made no changes to this policy, it will surely elicit a great deal of debate in the near future.
We can understand the need for Union funding in order to hold general events and have basic supplies, but religion and politics are two very emotional issues and these groups fall into a special set of Union clubs that could easily create problems.
For example, the College Democrats and the College Republicans recently formed on campus and while political awareness on campus is a good sight, it would become difficult to appropriate funding for these groups since monies are distributed based on both size and needs of the club. It can become difficult to fairly fund the groups if one club has a larger membership than the other and therefore qualifies for more funding.
The other main problem with funding these groups is that the funded clubs of the Union have their membership open to everyone. Religious and political groups single people out and exclude others due to their beliefs. It is unfair to ask everyone to pay for beliefs or opinions that are not their own and fund clubs they cannot join.
It is our belief that the Senate should stand by the decision made in 1996. Funding religious and political clubs would increase the strain on the already burdened Union budgeting process.
