In response to “Student fee small price to pay for invaluable experience”

To be clear, I enjoy The Daily Illini and read it nearly every day, and I believe it is something that our campus should not be without. But I will not agree to add a fee that is paid through the University to support the paper.

I don’t care about an extra $3 a year; what I care about is the integrity of the student newspaper. I hope that you, The Daily Illini, in your push to solve financial problems don’t forget what you print on every front page: “The independent student newspaper at the University of Illinois since 1871.”

Once funding starts coming from the University itself, this possibly becomes an issue. Are you obligated to say or not say certain things anymore? The writer of yesterday’s column worries that there won’t be “a watchdog for truth” or “a voice representing 40,000 UI students.”

I don’t know whether it will still serve that function once the paper receives UI’s money. Once that happens, it becomes something different. I support The Daily Illini and hope that it continues for another 140 years, but not from University funding and influence.

_Tim Van Der Aa, sophomore in DGS_