The Wisconsin Public Interest Research Group (WisPIRG) and Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan (MEChA) are bastions of radicalism. The Multicultural Student Coalition (MCSC) is a racist organization with the fiscal discipline of MC Hammer (having recently requested CD labelers that cost more than 25 times the Sharpies most of us use).

And yet, whether you support these groups’ ultra-political, hateful ways or not, you are footing the bill for their disgraceful existence.

In fact, students at UW-Madison, regardless of their wishes or political inclinations, funded these three jolly organizations to the tune of $633,816 last school year. This is thanks to the segregated-fee system, UW-Madison’s mechanism for allowing offensive student organizations to dream up lavish budgets and then quite literally send students the bill.

Of the aforementioned $633,816, the lion’s share, $517,695, went to MCSC. Let’s examine what it has contributed to the campus atmosphere recently that merits a budget that could feed the entire freshman class for a week.

MCSC publishes a bi-weekly newspaper, The Madison Observer. Why the need for a third publication when UW-Madison already boasts two quality daily papers? According to Theresa Vidaurri, Executive Staff Member of MCSC, and Anna Marie Vu, a group member, “Many people have attempted to have their articles printed on the pages of The [Badger] Herald and have been unjustly denied this right.”

Ms. Vidaurri and Ms. Vu negate their own statement, however, as the quote — part of a larger, bitter assault upon this newspaper — was printed in the Herald and not in The Daily Cardinal or The Madison Observer. Moreover, they were personally invited to write their views in this paper. The irony seems to aptly demonstrate the lack of a necessity for a third campus paper — let alone one funded by student fees rather than advertisements.

But MCSC got its way, and students, regardless of whether they agree with its agenda or not, now pay for The Madison Observer. And just what has this new, third newspaper done to promote peace on campus?

It immediately launched an attack upon members of the Student Services Finance Committee (SSFC), the group charged with dispersing segregated fees, as soon as it dared question MCSC’s gargantuan budget; the “news” paper accused committee members of being “a reckless white supremacist mob” in the ink which the committee approved. (Again, the irony seems to escape MCSC.)

But enough with MCSC — let’s move on to MEChA and WisPIRG.

MEChA received $40,521 for the last academic school year, and WisPIRG $75,600.

Just what will the former group’s budget work toward? Among other things, El Plan Espiritual de Aztlan — a project explicated in a bizarre text that can be accessed from a link on the UW-Madison chapter’s webpage. A major aspiration is “reclaiming the land of [our forefathers’] birth.”

The only problem is that the territory MEChA sees as necessary to regain what is the good folks at Rand McNally see as southern California. And MEChA would, apparently, also like to alter McNally’s demographic map by removing all governing Caucasians from the region. Ah, yes — racial harmony! (Incidentally, Cruz Bustamante was a member of MEChA and has refused to sever his ties, making the lieutenant governor’s claim that Arnold Schwarzenegger tried to “steal” California all the more ironic.)

And as for WisPIRG, the organization is not only an ultra-left-wing lobbying group, but also the final member in this Axis of Ironic Evil. You see, WisPIRG is part of the greater PIRG movement, which was started by Madison’s messiah, Ralph Nader.

The irony? Nader made a career of lobbying against forcing citizens to economically support causes with which they don’t agree, but he turns a blind eye when WisPIRG sucks cash out of all students’ pockets to fund lobbying that doesn’t have unanimous backing.

This column would detail just which offensive causes WisPIRG endows, but its spending habits are sketchy at best. Even the Supreme Court of the United States struggled in an attempt to audit the group, writing, “The full extent of the uses to which WisPIRG puts its funds is unclear.” (Southworth v. UW Board of Regents).

Now, this is not to say that all 40,000 students need to endorse the actions of every student organization. And there are groups receiving seg fees with which few would take issue, like Vets for Vets. But this system, which was tragically rebuffed by a misguided Supreme Court recently, causes far more bad than good by forcing well-meaning students to financially endorse organizations that don’t have such noble intentions.

Render unto Bascom what is Bascom’s, but don’t render unto MCSC, WisPIRG and MEChA what is yours.

Mac VerStandig ([email protected]) is a sophomore majoring in rhetoric.