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SSFC denies student funding once again
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Also by Ken Harris:
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- SSFC denies student funding once again (November 20, 2007)
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- Student Judiciary reverses fund denial (October 20, 2005)
- SSFC reverses APAC funding decision (September 27, 2005)
- Members dispute practices amid approvals (September 23, 2005)
- Student Judiciary hears RCF appeal (October 13, 2005)
by Ken Harris
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Three campus groups were denied funding from the Associated Students of Madison's Student Services Finance Committee Monday because they failed to meet the criteria as interpreted by the Student Judiciary.
ASM's Student Judiciary had ordered SSFC to reconsider the student fund applications of the Roman Catholic Foundation of the University of Wisconsin, Asian Pacific American Council and Jewish Cultural Collective. These groups had all been denied funding earlier this fall.
SJ ruled SSFC incorrectly interpreted the term "significant additional components" during each group's original funding hearing. According to the committee's interpretation of SJ's decision, groups must provide a significant additional component in addition to "educational benefits and services."
"It's in the wording of the bylaws, and we applied it in a way that now Student Judiciary's having us look at," SSFC member Jennifer Oh said.
Following SJ's interpretations of the requirements, all groups were allowed to resubmit their original applications for reconsideration, although SSFC denied all three applications again.
After the APAC application was denied, APAC member Johnny Ly said he was disappointed in SJ's interpretation of the bylaws. According to Ly, SSFC's hands were tied in making their decision.
"In trying to fix it, [the SJ] made a mistake," Ly said.
RCF-UW Chair Beth Czarnecki, whose lawsuit was responsible for initially bringing the requirements under question before the SJ, also did not blame SSFC for denying their application again.
"The members took [the SJ's decision] in the way they thought was the correct way," Czarnecki said.
No members of JCC were present at the meeting.
Throughout the hearing, committee members debated the definition of "significant additional components."
SSFC member Adam Porton addressed concern over significant additional components. He said the role of SSFC is to fund student services, and it is hard to find a student organization that provides something more than benefits and services.
"This interpretation is far more restrictive than the one we were using before," Porton said.
After voting to deny each of the three applications, SSFC Chair Alex Gallagher steered the meeting toward rewording the requirements for general student services funding.
"We are the student services funding committee," Gallagher said. "We're here to fund services."
After much debate, the committee voted on a wording a slim majority agreed on.
Gallagher said he will now introduce the changes to the bylaws in the next Student Council meeting. If the same wording is approved in two consecutive meetings, the new wording will become official.
If approved by the Student Council, the changes could be official by Dec. 5.
Anonymous (November 20, 2007 @ 7:38am):
Anyone else notice that the file name for the photo is "SSFC_BORING_JS.jpg"? Apparently photojournalists have a sense of humor.
Anonymous (November 21, 2007 @ 9:19am):
Let's just get rid of the whole seg fee system. This is such a waste of everyone's time and money!
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