The issue with VPIRG is not their liberal agenda, nor their tendency to
play fast and loose with the facts, nor that their views are controversial
or out of line with any segment of the UVM student body.

The problem is one of money. I think is fundamentally wrong to use funds
extracted from students through a mandatory fee to lobby a particular
political agenda.  This amounts to forced political speech (In case you are
unaware, the Supreme Court has upheld spending money in support of a cause
as a Constitutionally protected mode of expression) Funding is, by its own
admission, VPIRG's main interest in SGA recognition.  There are many
members of the Senate who think we cannot deny funding to any club. Since
recognition seems inevitably to open a bottomless SGA bank vault, I
strongly oppose recognition for this group, which is truly beyond the scope
of a normal club.

 [As an aside, I do not in the least agree with this belief. Money is just
one way in which the SGA supports its clubs (others include use of the UVM
name and facilities), and the Senate has been given COMPLETE discretion
over its distribution.  We can as easily chose not to fund as to fund in
any particular amount.  In fact, we have a responsibility to the student
body to carefully consider to whom we do and do not give funds.]

Richard Spaulding
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Richard G. Spaulding, Jr.        ,---.
113 Millis Hall                 / *** ||]   UVM COLLEGE
Burlington VT, 05405            |-----`']   REPUBLICANS
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"We may be tossed upon an ocean where we can see no land
--nor, perhaps, the sun and stars. But there is a chart
for us to study, to consult, and to obey.

The chart is the Constitution."

                                          Daniel Webster
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