The Committee to Review Allocable
Segregated Fee Policies, composed of five University of Wisconsin
System students and five UW System administrators, met for the fourth
and final time yesterday to finalize recommendations for the
segregated fee policy.

The recommendations will be given to
Board of Regents president Kevin Reilly, who will take the
committee's recommendation into consideration when deciding on the
segregated fee policy during the Board of Regents meeting Dec. 6.

The meeting focused on comments coming
from UW campuses regarding the draft of the policy the committee had
drawn up during previous meetings.

There were 28 responses to the draft
from UW System staff and students, according to Linda Bunnell, chair
of the committee and UW-Stevens Point chancellor.

"While I don't think you'll see
any substantial changes to the policy, some campuses came in with
good suggestions and ideas but, in many cases, they were not really
questions of the document," Bunnell said. "We had a really good
long discussion [on] what kind of limitations there are on segregated
fees — a lot of this was not our charge, but it will lead to
thoughtful analysis for the future."

Some issues, such as student
organizations using segregated fees to lobby, were found to be beyond
the scope of the group.

"I think a lot of these issues are up
to the individual campuses," said Michael Viney, Assistant
Chancellor for Student Affairs at UW-Platteville and committee
member.

Viney said the committee was "setting
minimal standards for the UW System as a whole to follow."

Ray French, UW-Eau Claire student and
member of the committee, said segregated fees should be treated
differently than state money.

"Segregated fees are not the same as
general purpose revenue, so it should not have the same limitations,"
French said.

Alex Gallagher, Associated Students of
Madison finance committee chair and member of the committee, said the
policy passed 6-3 in the committee.

"One of my problems was the formation
and premise of the committee; it didn't have a majority of students
sitting on it," said Gallagher, who voted against the policy. "The
segregated fee policy stems from problems on Madison’s campus, so I
didn't think it was appropriate to be decided on at a system
level."

Gallagher said the final segregated fee
policy changes are still dependent on Reilly.

"If he uses the recommendation from
the committee, it will affect Madison's campus in terms of what
segregated fees are allowed to be spent on," Gallagher said.

The policy the committee recommended
yesterday makes it "pretty much impossible" for a student
organization to hire full-time staff, Gallagher said, adding student
organizations cannot independently rent space in a non-campus
building with money from segregated fees.

Gallagher will be submitting a dissent
to Reilly outlining why he does not agree with the policy recommended
by the committee.

However, Bunnell said the committee was
successful because they worked hard — especially the student
members.

"I think we worked very hard, these
are difficult issues; the students were always there and had good
ideas, they expressed themselves, were articulate and were really
good committee members," Bunnell said. "I enjoyed working with
them."

The committee made positive steps, even
though it was at times problematic, Gallagher said.

"If it affects student life and
interests, the decisions are clearly the responsibility of students,"
Gallagher said. "The committee feared giving a majority to the
students because then they wouldn't get the results they were
looking for."