OPINION & EDITORIAL
SSFC in need of new voice
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Also by Letters to the Editor:
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- Poor plowing cuts off handicapped access (December 10, 2007)
- Cars that actually help the environment (December 10, 2007)
- Organic food: Deliciously safe (December 10, 2007)
- Diversity deserves attention at UW (December 7, 2007)
Related Stories:
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- Full Disclosure (September 29, 2005)
- Fool me once... (November 21, 2006)
- Follow frugal Berkley's example (September 26, 2002)
- Responsibility a must for SSFC (October 10, 2005)
by Letters to the Editor
Wednesday, April 6, 2005
The core of Associated Students of Madison and the Student Services Finance Committee is to provide funding for groups clearly making a difference on campus with segregated fees (currently $609 a year, which comes from each student’s tuition). While many elected ASM and SSFC members may base their funding decisions and discourse on political preference or groups lobbying them, members should be basing their votes and discussion on objective data (for instance, how many people the organization serves) and how the organization’s activities and research benefit and engage students, along with the outside community.
Stewardship should be the core principle of ASM and student organizations because they have been entrusted by the students to use their tuition dollars wisely. The practice of stewardship is especially critical with the increases in tuition and the limited financial resources of the student body. With this underlying principle in mind, healthy debate can occur on the details and specifics of the budgets on campus.
I stand for stewardship, and thus I will make it a goal of mine that every tuition dollar you pay in segregated fees goes to groups and organizations that make it their main objective to serve the students and community around them with the resources allotted. While partisanship and ideology may run rampant on this campus and in our student government, our ultimate goal should be to serve students efficiently and effectively.
If you vote Tim Schulz for SSFC, hopefully progress and change in ASM can occur as I work for you, the students, not special interests or ideology.
Tim Schulz
twschulz@wisc.edu
Anonymous (April 6, 2005 @ 6:30am):
Coming straight from the College Republicans, lets see how long can "objective" till they start encouraging to defund groups based on their ideology and politics. It becomes ugly quickly buddy. Good luck
Anonymous (April 6, 2005 @ 8:21am):
Defund based on ideology? I thought that only CFACT was subject to that kind of treatment.
Anonymous (April 6, 2005 @ 8:49am):
oh please, we all know that MeCHA has been subject to that treatment as well ;)
Anonymous (April 6, 2005 @ 9:15am):
For more information about Tim Schultz and his desire to remain ideologically neutral, check out http://www.robinhoodasm.com/candidates.htm
Anonymous (April 6, 2005 @ 10:15am):
Someone said:
"Coming straight from the College Republicans, lets see how long can "objective" till they start encouraging to defund groups based on their ideology and politics."
What the FUCK kind of grammar is that?
No wonder you're liberal, you're going to need handouts if that's the kind of grammar you use in college.
Anonymous (April 6, 2005 @ 10:37am):
""Coming straight from the College Republicans, lets see how long can "objective" till they start encouraging to defund groups based on their ideology and politics."
What the FUCK kind of grammar is that?
No wonder you're liberal, you're going to need handouts if that's the kind of grammar you use in college."
I think they may have meant 'lets see how long he can stay objective.' He'll probably stay fair and "objective" until he has to cast his first vote and is encouraged to cut funding based on ideology and politics by fellow College Republicans. Just a hunch, but as a former member of SSFC, I totally agree it happens every year with both side.
And hey, liberals aren't the only one with bad grammar, I've met some fucked up, ignorant conservatives who are no better. Think about it.
Anonymous (April 6, 2005 @ 12:35pm):
"Think about it."
How the hell am I supposed to do that? I'm a Republican! We don't believe in thinking! Did God ever talk about thinking in the Bible?
Tim Schulz (April 6, 2005 @ 1:50pm):
To help clarify:
Go to the Robin Hood website and you can see that I do not represent special interests. In fact if Pete McCabe or others representing conservative start lobbying, I will not listen to them. I believe that all groups should have equal access to funding and that ASM needs to be fiscally responsible. Whether it be yoga classes for student parents or high wages for ASM committee members, there is clear waste and fiscal irresponsibility currently in ASM. This is why I am running, to be a steward of your tuition money.
Anonymous (April 6, 2005 @ 2:01pm):
Tim,
I'm trying hard to believe you, but by the comments that you have made about yoga classes and the like, I can see you already have some kind of bias. You are talking about a process that, from your editorial, it seems you have little understanding of. It seems as if you know what information you've been fed via your fellow slate members and nothing else. But, I wish you good luck.
Tim Schulz (April 6, 2005 @ 2:16pm):
Go to archives and search yoga. Full story about the yoga classes for student parents is there. Other articles in the archive detail the high wages for ASM committee members.
Anonymous (April 6, 2005 @ 4:07pm):
High wages? When you look at how many long hours committee chairs, etc. work for student victories it really comes up to less than minimum wage. It is ludacris that you look at a stipend figure and automatically assume it is a waste of money. There are many programs, lobby visits, and other vitally important things that we would miss if we were to not pay these positions something...it would price out all of the students who want to work for student government and change but cannot afford to because of such high tuition costs, etc. Look at who you're attacking, and look at what services we would all lose by just tossing a talking point from the right around.
Anonymous (April 6, 2005 @ 6:16pm):
Personally, I would be happy if the committee chairs, etc. did less work. That would mean they would have less time to spend wasting my money on useless events and programs.
And student victories? What student victories? I certainly haven't seen any. Oh, wait-I guess having a hunger strike at the capitol actually accomplished something... oh, no-actually, it didn't. Here's a revolutionary idea. If all the paid members of the ASM staff gave up their stipends, that could help lower tuition. But of course, ASM would never dream of cutting its own funding to actually help students...
Plenty of student organizations have chairs that do not get paid stipends, and they seem to be able to get their work done.
It's only in ASM and the ASM-funded special interest groups, that there are people whining about getting their stipends cut. Remember who's money it is that you're talking about-students' money. No, it's not ASM's-although the way you're talking, you certainly seem to think that ASM has a right to take as much money as it wants to out of students' pockets. Every dollar the ASM chairs, etc. put in their own pocket is taken from a fellow student. Just remember that next time you're feeling sorry for the poor, overworked paid members of ASM.
Anonymous (April 6, 2005 @ 7:23pm):
Tim,
How can you say that you're unbiased when you're running with a conservative slate? The initial idea behind the Robin Hood slate name was that you wanted to "Steal from the rich organizations and give to the poor ones".
To decode this conservative bull shit for most readers: that means he wants to steal from liberal organizations doing too much work to break down ignorant stereotypes and doing too much to make this campus inhabitable for non white, heterosexual, conservative, males. It means "lease vote for me" so I can slash the budgets of the Campus Women's Center, the LGBT Campus Center, Sex Out Loud, MCSC, APAC, MEChA, Wunk Sheek and other organizations taking up the burden of educating some of the ignorant students who come to this campus.
Anonymous (April 7, 2005 @ 7:26am):
Slashing their budgets? Since when are they "their" budgets? You're talking about the groups getting hundreds of thousands of dollars annually to shove their leftist agenda down the collective student throat, dollars that could be used instead by low-income students to help pay for tuition? Hmmm. I'd have to side with Tim on this one. I hope you get elected, buddy.
If an SSFC member doesn't take sides, I'm skeptical. Anyone who doesn't enter the fray and see that there is some gross abuse that needs to be corrected is supporting the extreme left and helping to price some students out of an education. The entire system's current structure inherently encourages greater spending.
Anonymous (April 7, 2005 @ 10:23am):
"Anyone who doesn't enter the fray and see that there is some gross abuse that needs to be corrected is supporting the extreme left and helping to price some students out of an education."
I agree that their is some gross abuse, however do not undermine the work of the committee in the past couple to years to correct it. These students have done hours of work to put accountability measures in plase to curb policies that encouraged the abuse, that they inherited. In addition, students have control over about 120 dollars of seg fees, with a large amount going to the Bus Pass. About 50 dollars goes to the "leftist" organizations that you hate som much. It doesn't mean that SSFC shouldn't work to reduce budgets, but when everyone cites the "600 dollars stolen from them", they should know the majority is being "stolen" by UHS and the Chancellor controls that.
Anonymous (April 7, 2005 @ 3:37pm):
Sure, but the committee could, if it had the fortitude, recommend that he trim or eliminate the auxiliary budgets too.
And stop using the lame excuse of "oh, well the student members were so dedicated and they put in so much time..." They wouldn't have to put in so much time and work so hard if they didn't allow all kinds of bloated bureaucracies to spring up across campus.
