A clear advantage to a smaller campus such as Simpson is the plentiful opportunities to get involved in many student organizations or attend the activities they sponsor. Many of these groups get their funding from student government fees and could not operate without it.

A student government fee of $174 per student is not much when you consider how that money is spread out among many campus groups and how each student benefits from them.

That money takes care of the newspaper exchange program, maintenance to BSC, activities sponsored by CAB, the yearbook, The Simp, KSTM radio, RLC, Sequel, intramurals and much more. Most campus organizations thrive on student funding, even The Simpsonian could not operate without money from student government fees.

Senate decides how much money will be given to an organization based on their request for funds. This year Senate had an operating budget of $180,144. Nearly every organization that requested funds received a lesser amount than requested. For example Intramurals requested $7,550 and will receive $5,700.

Concerned students have raised questions about how these funds have been dispersed in the past. This is a good thing, a democracy should operate on what the students want and without raising a voice to government this aspect is lost. However, requesting a refund for the student government fee is only punishing the student body as a whole. Less money for groups that already get fewer funds than requested equals less sponsored activities or lower quality publications.