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The Badger Herald

Independent Student Newspaper Since 1969

The Badger Herald

Independent Student Newspaper Since 1969

The Badger Herald

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Student Council weighs services fund, will not impeach SJ justice

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Vice Chancellor Darrell Bazzell addresses members on the details of public authority status for UW.[/media-credit]

In the wake of recent controversy over funding decisions made by the Student Judiciary body, members of the student government decided not to hold a trial to impeach one of the panel’s judges.

For more than a year, the Wisconsin Student Public Interest Research Group has appealed for funding from the Student Services Finance Committee and engaged in active judicial battles in the student courts.

WISPIRG was originally denied funding because the committee ruled the main beneficiaries of the organization were not University of Wisconsin students, but rather other various community members.

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Student Judiciary Vice Chief Justice Tim Hogan recently granted another hearing for WISPIRG, against the recommendation of the SSFC, in the most recent decision.

In response to the ruling, SSFC Chair Matt Manes launched the process of Hogan’s impeachment.

While the impeachment trial was scheduled for Wednesday night, the trial was canceled due to two individuals revoking their names from the impeachment petition, according to Chair Brandon Williams.

Williams said the initiative to impeach Hogan began with a petition with enough names to hold a trial, but without the two signatures, the motion for the trial was stalled and Hogan will remain on the Student Judiciary panel.

Student Council also weighed possible changes to the Associated Students of Madison operations grants, which provides funding to various student organizations on campus and housed at the Student Activity Center.

Finance Committee Chair Matt Beemsterboer said he thought the grants were very well done and his committee did a good job of agreeing on a certain set of policies for which organizations receive how much funding.

“We found a lot more organizations asking for less than usual this year, which made our job a lot easier,” Beemsterboer said. “Every organization received what they needed on the most basic level.”

Student Council Representative Sarah Neibart said she was slightly concerned about the implications of ASM operations grants for the future and said she would introduce a motion to put more money into the Operations Grant Fund to better serve deserving organizations.

Council Representatives Tito Diaz and Ace Hilliard cited the multicultural fraternities and sororities on campus as examples of such groups, which did not receive as much funding as they have in the past.

Despite these conflicting opinions, the council approved the operations grants for the next year and also approved new legislation to prohibit the use of these student fees in referenda items in elections.

The General Student Services Fund, funding to provide direct services that benefit the entire student population, also recently changed their bylaws for eligibility criteria for student organizations on the UW campus.

SSFC representative Rae Lymer said the changes made to the eligibility criteria would create clearer lines between what organizations can and cannot do with direct services through the GSSF.

Lymer said these changes would include ensuring events to provide direct services in order to establish more leadership opportunities for group members. 

The proposed changes would also allow members of student organizations less objective criteria without being discriminated for using the direct services provided by the student group.

The council will revisit the proposed changes to the GSSF at the next regularly scheduled meeting in two weeks.

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