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SSFC examines bylaw modification

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Also by Amelia Vorpahl:

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140-year-old tree to be cut down by city (November 28, 2007)

by Amelia Vorpahl

Friday, March 7, 2008

The Student Services Finance Committee examined possible bylaw and policy changes Thursday night, including potentially changing the eligibility date for student groups from August to April.

SSFC Secretary Kurt Gosselin said this change would give student groups the entire summer to plan out their budgets. Groups would still be in the position of creating a budget without knowing their eligibility status, though.

Other proposed changes Gosselin mentioned included budget and eligibility evaluation forms that SSFC members would fill out explaining their decision to approve or deny a group.

Gosselin said the evaluation forms would be a supplement to the general form and would “give a little glimpse into what the general rationale is.”

“A lot of it is in the spirit of greater transparency,” Gosselin also said.

Gosselin also said the evaluations could possibly be linked to stipends to ensure SSFC members came to meetings prepared.

Much of the meeting was spent in discussion of the criteria that would make a student group eligible to receive money from the General Student Services Fund.

Most SSFC members agreed that a GSSF group must provide a service that enhances the academic mission of the University of Wisconsin and that students could not receive on their own elsewhere.

SSFC member Zorian Lasowsky said a GSSF group should be one that “gives assistance and support to development of a moral or mental capacity.”

For SSFC Chair Alex Gallagher, a GSSF service should be one not covered under the traditional role of academic services, like advising or credit-producing activities.

Various SSFC members also said they would like a GSSF group to have written governing documents and a purposeful mission statement.

In addition to the eligibility discussion, other topics at the meeting included a suggestion from the Policy Sub-Committee that would change certain policies regarding membership fees of student groups.

Adam Porton, Policy Sub-Committee chair, said they would divide the groups up into two categories: Groups whose fees bring in more than $1,000 and those whose fees bring in less than that amount.

Groups whose membership fees are more than $1,000 would have to answer much more detailed questions, he added.

“It forces groups to make sure they’re getting their money’s worth from national groups they’re paying into,” Porton said.

SSFC is scheduled to meet again next Thursday and will continue to explore eligibility criteria at the meeting.

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