Editor's Note (10/3/09)

Story by Carson Vaughan 

| Published Oct 6, 2009

The Nebraska Thinker think tank has done a lot of thinking lately. The result: The vilification of student fees at UNL and the goading of all students to request their $18.97 back. Because the article said something about me receiving money, I blindly followed the order of the brain trust, and I urge you to do the same for a number of ruthlessly imprudent reasons.

According to a June 2009 release by UNL titled “The Purpose of Student Fees,” “Like taxes that we pay within the larger communities in which we live, student fees are essential to the support of vital functions within the University community—in this case, functions that enrich, enliven and humanize the institution.”

Exactly! I don’t especially like paying taxes, either. I’m only paying taxes if those public services improve my personal situation. If I don’t personally benefit from something, I want nothing to do with it. And because I’m a robot, I don’t give a shit about humanizing anything!

As for the functions that enrich and enliven the institution, consider what those functions are. The Association of Students at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, which tyrannically embezzled $10.16 of our hard-earned money this year, has—save for promoting campus sustainability, encouraging student activism, coordinating university-wide student activities and attempting to represent our challenges to university and state officials—done nothing for me.

If ASUN has done something for me, I didn’t hear about. But, then again, I don’t read the Daily Nebraskan, so I wouldn’t really know. And speaking of liberal landfills, the DN and the DailyER Nebraskan combined stole a grand total of $2.74 from each and every one of us. $2.74 for one-year subscriptions to both a daily and bi-weekly newspaper? No thank you. I’d rather read the Nebraska Thinker.

And last, but not least, the University Program Council accounts for the final $6.07. A fraction of that, $2.46, pays for student discounts at the Lied Center, and the remaining $3.61 is spent on programming by the University Program Council. I quit supporting UPC after they went all “experimental” on us. Sam Beam of Iron & Who? I don’t know him. I’ve never heard of him. He sucks.

As you can see, The Nebraska Thinker didn’t need to think twice about denouncing student fees. ASUN, the Daily Nebraskan, the DailyER Nebraskan, the University Program Council and the Lied Center for Performing Arts are all organizations that clearly provide nothing for students at this university.

Request your refund immediately.* I turned in mine quite some time ago.**

Respectfully-er,

Carson Vaughan
Editor-in-Chief
DailyER Nebraskan

*Forms for applying for a Fund A refund may be obtained at the Student Organizations Financial Services Office (Nebraska Union, Room 222) during the first four weeks of each semester.

**You’re too late, now. Sorry. You should have read the DN. They announced the deadline weeks ago.