Legislation intended to prevent a repeat of last year’s Bristol Palin fiasco failed to pass Student Union Treasury by one vote on Thursday. The constitutional amendment would have made student referendums faster and more effective. The final vote was 11-6, but it needed a two-thirds margin to pass.

Washington University announced several weeks ago that Janet Napolitano, the current U.S. secretary of Homeland Security, would be speaking on campus. And even though her visit was cancelled, the announcement of her intended arrival came as a pleasant surprise in light of the lackluster lineup of speakers who have come throughout the year.

Students signed up in larger numbers this spring to run for Student Union Treasury and Senate, with many taking motivation from the fallout over Treasury’s vote to fund a panel featuring Bristol Palin. The majority of the candidates are coming from outside SU. The influx of candidates has made this spring’s elections much more competitive than normal.

Regardless of Bristol Palin’s merits as a speaker, there is one thing we know for certain: The majority of the student body did not want to pay her speaking fee. It is important, for purposes of clarification, to note that the appeal for funding was made by the Student Health Advisory Committee (SHAC), and the money would have come from the Student Activity Fee, a charge that is used exclusively for student programming and is equal to one percent of tuition.

The proposed speaker that had Washington University students in an uproar for nearly two days is no longer scheduled to appear on campus. Bristol Palin, 20, was expected to be the keynote speaker at this year’s Sexual Responsibility Week. But her $20,000 price tag led students to contest Student Union Treasury’s funding decision, arguing that she is unqualified to speak about the subject of abstinence on a college campus.

Bristol Palin: An abstinent mother?

This past Tuesday, Jan. 25, Washington University’s Treasury approved a $20,000 appeal to bring Bristol Palin as the keynote speaker and a panelist for a discussion about abstinence in college during Sex Week. Regardless of whether one agrees with Ms. Palin’s political beliefs or lifestyle choices, the fact remains that this grant is deeply troubling.

What does Bristol Palin know about college abstinence? As a teenage mother, she failed to abstain from sex or to attend college. I’m extremely frustrated that part of my already steep tuition is extending Bristol Palin’s 15 minutes of fame and furthering Sarah Palin’s own ambitious political agenda.

Let’s set aside whether Bristol Palin is being paid by our tuition or activities fees; I promise the distinction isn’t as important as you think.

Like many students, I was angry when I heard that Treasury granted the Student Health Advisory Committee $20,000 to fund Bristol Palin as a keynote speaker for Sex Week. Bristol is being paid roughly 2/5 of a year’s tuition while millions of teen mothers across the United States can’t get so much as a welfare check without being vilified.