This fall the Supreme Court will make a decision with a far-ranging impact on campus student organizations, especially those that engage in political activities. Most American colleges, including Dartmouth, finance student organizations through mandatory fees paid by students.
Organizations range from social groups to issue-oriented groups.
Though many schools maintain a policy of not funding overtly partisan political activities, some official student organizations do use college funds to sponsor such activities. Beyond that, student organizations around the country use college funds to further a political agenda, if not elect a candidate. PIRGs are not the only organizations using student fees to fund radical political causes. The Ten Percent Society, a funded student group at the University of Wisconsin, vandalized a local minister's home to promote their agenda. In response to these organizations, three students at the University of Wisconsin-Madison filed a lawsuit objecting to the mandatory student activities fees, arguing that the university policy forced them to finance political groups with which they did not agree.