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Independent Student Newspaper Since 1969

The Badger Herald

Independent Student Newspaper Since 1969

The Badger Herald

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SSFC maintains neutrality not violated in decision

A branch of University of Wisconsin student government took up items designed to improve internal efficiency as well as addressed the possibility of appealing to the Board of Regents if Interim Chancellor David Ward overturns its non-allocable budgets.

In a meeting Thursday night, Student Services Finance Committee Chair Sarah Neibart said the committee will be focusing on making changes to increase its efficiency for upcoming academic years.

“I want us to work on things that we can actually make a change on for next year,” Neibart said.

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During the discussion, Rep. Ron Crandall proposed updating the committee’s website to make it more accessible. He said the committee should expand the website to accommodate a more clear and open government.

Secretary Ellie Bruecker said while creating a better web server would be beneficial, the majority of issues with SSFC bylaws stem from difficulty for readers in understanding the language of the laws.

“In the current form, you’re not going to understand [the bylaws] unless you sit down with someone who understands them,” Bruecker said.

In addition, Neibart nominated Rep. Cale Plamann to head the Eligibility Criteria subcommittee.

The committee focuses on clarifying and potentially changing problematic SSFC bylaws.

“The clarity of the rules and the means for explaining them are of the major complaints,” Plamann said. “Having a clear set of directives for how to go through [SSFC] bylaws will solve a lot of problems.”

Bruecker said she hopes these initiatives will increase communication between SSFC and General Student Services Fund groups in the future.

In addition to addressing the subcommittee items, Bruecker also made a motion to amend the agenda to strike a special order to discuss a letter written by former committee member Justin Bloesch.

Bruecker said because the letter was not sent directly to SSFC, and because Bloesch was not present at the meeting, the committee should not discuss it to avoid hostility.

Neibart agreed, saying it would be inappropriate to discuss the letter.

“I don’t think it’s appropriate to talk about people in their absence, and we already had this conversation, so at this point [discussing it] would be inappropriate,” Neibart said.

Bloesch’s letter sent to Associated Students of Madison Coordinating Council members said SSFC had violated viewpoint neutrality during Multicultural Student Coalition’s eligibility hearing last semester, in which SSFC denied GSSF funding eligibility to the group.

According to Bruecker, Bloesch said in the letter he also violated viewpoint neutrality, even though he voted in favor of MCSC’s eligibility.

Neibart said these allegations were a “blatant lie” and maintained the committee was viewpoint-neutral and respectful throughout the process.

Despite the letter, she added she felt Bloesch was viewpoint neutral during the process.

“I trained Justin, and I monitor all of the meetings. … I told him he couldn’t speak for anyone but himself,” Neibart said. “When you’re on SSFC, you have to protect the integrity of [SSFC’s] rules. It’s not the outcome; it’s the process.”

Along with these items, Neibart said she will report SSFC’s budgets for the year to Ward on Wednesday. The committee would likely hear back from Ward within two weeks.

Neibart added she anticipates Ward may overturn SSFC’s non-allocable budgets, at which point the committee would appeal to the Board of Regents.

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