The fight over who will have control the distribution of student segregated fees at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, which has been brewing for almost a decade, is boiling over after a student group on campus is challenging the results of a student referendum.

The Student Government Association, which is similar to UW’s Associated Students of Madison, held a referendum in October asking students if they wanted to bring the University Center’s Advisory and Policy Board, which allocates segregated fees, under the control of the SGA, which also allocates segregated fees, or to dissolve the board and move its responsibilities directly to the SGA.

Of the 936 students who voted in the referendum at UW-Stevens Point, 62 percent said they wanted the UCAPB to become a committee in the SGA, which would mean the student government would have a final say over the group’s budgets.

However, on Friday UCAPB Chair Kathleen Gould sent an e-mail to UW-Stevens Point Chancellor Bernie Patterson asking him to overrule the results of the referendum.

“UCAPB is seeking to negate the referendum decision due to lack of a fair, open, transparent process and inadequacy of involvement from shared governance student leaders from the very beginning,” Gould said in the e-mail.

The heart of the issue being debated is who has the right to control how student segregated fees are allocated. According to state statutes, students at UW campuses have the right to be responsible for creating and reviewing policies involving student life, services and interests. The statue also gives UW System students rights to oversee how their segregated fees are being spent.

In response to this statue the UW System policy states every campus must have only one Segregated University Fee Allocation Committee to deal with allocating student segregated fees.

The contention at UW-Stevens Point comes from who is authorized to oversee student segregated fees. There are currently three groups on campus handling segregated fees: the SGA’s Finance Committee, UCAPB and Student Health Advisory Committee.

SGA President Michael Wilson said the only legitimate SUFAC on campus is the Finance Committee. He added the other groups used to be under the authority of the SGA, but they are now “rogue committees” who do not recognize the SGA oversight.

Gould said members of the UCAPB are appointed from different groups inside the board. She added if people are worried about the members not being elected that is something the individual organizations could decide to do.

Wilson said the students who are on a SUFAC must be elected by students, citing the Board of Regents case of UW -Milwaukee Student Organization v. Baum, where the student government appealed the chancellor’s decision to alter their budget. The Regents ruled in favor of the students.

Gould said no members of the UCAPB were consulted when the referendum questions were being written, they were not told which option received the most votes and the option to keep the UCAPB as it is currently was not on the ballot.

Gould said the UCAPB voted unanimously two weeks ago they would not follow the direction the SGA was moving the board.

However, Wilson said the process has been open and they have been trying to meet the groups halfway at every stage of the process. UW-Stevens Point Chancellor has not taking any sides on the issue and has said it is the responsibility of the students to solve the dispute.

Patterson said in an interview with The Badger Herald he believes it is the responsibility of the students to organize themselves in a way they think is most effective for them and the culture of the campus.

Both sides have different opinions on the best way to solve the disagreement.

Gould said the UCAPB wants a new referendum to be drafted for the spring semester. She added students need time to understand the issue. She also wants the UCAPB and other shared governance committees to have a say in drafting the referendum.

Wilson said the SGA will now begin to write the UCAPB and the SHAC into the SGA’s bylaws, which would effectively make them committees apart of the SGA.

“Based on our work with Regents, attorneys, Wisconsin state officials and student leaders across the state, we concluded that slight reforms towards student unity would resolve this decade-long issue,” Wilson said.