by Joe Harris
senior editor

The Student Court ruled last Monday that all students are entitled to run for Homecoming King or Queen or both.

The ruling came as a result of a grievance filed by Steven Wolfe, interim vice president of the Student Government Association. Wolfe said he wrote the grievance to help promote student involvement.

"I wrote the grievance for students rights because we need to encourage student involvement not discourage student involvement," Wolfe said.

Wolfe's grievance originally stated that the requirements for a person to run for Homecoming King or Queen were discriminatory because they did not allow all students to run for the positions.

The Student Court did not find in Wolfe's favor that the requirements were discriminatory, though. Instead they found in Wolfe's favor based on entitlement.

Rick Eccher, chief justice of the Student Court, said there's a difference between discrimination and entitlement.

"Discrimination has a specific legal definition and his argument has no merit based on age, sex, all the things discrimination requires. Those are legal issues," Eccher said. "Entitlement means you are entitled to something. You are entitled to life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness. The Bill of Rights is loaded with entitlements."

Eccher said all students are entitled to run for Homecoming King or Queen because the activity is sponsored, in part, by student activities fees. Eccher said since all students pay the fees, all students have a right to run for Homecoming King or Queen.

"The United States Supreme Court has already decided that student activities fees create a fora of money that have to be made available on a viewpoint neutral basis," Eccher said. "That means any student is entitled to run for Homecoming King or Queen or both."

Eccher said no specific criteria used by the Homecoming election committee were brought forth for ruling and will not be ruled on by the Student Court unless brought before them specifically. Eccher said that he doesn't expect the ruling to alter any current Homecoming plans.