In the next step toward the culmination of a conflict that has spanned the entirety of the school year, members of a student organization presented on their funding eligibility Thursday evening in a meeting in which a decision on the matter was unexpectedly postponed.
Members of the Multicultural Student Coalition presented on their eligibility for General Student Services Funds in the Associated Students of Madison Student Council meeting.
The meeting was supposed to include both the presentation and the group’s eligibility decision, which comes after Interim Chancellor David Ward released a decision Sunday mandating that Student Council take up MCSC’s eligibility decision within five school days.
Before the group’s presentation, which stretched most of the meeting, members of Student Council voted to postpone the eligibility decision until the next meeting when Rep. Maria Giannopoulos motioned to do so.
Chair Allie Gardner spoke to the motion and said new information, which she declined to describe in specific detail, was introduced before the meeting that could affect some of the process, but that it was unclear to her at that point.
In an interview with The Badger Herald, Gardner said the new information could require a different process and that she was unsure of how to explain or talk about the change of events because it “literally happened two hours before the meeting.”
She said despite this, the reasoning for postponing the eligibility decision had less to do with the new information and more to do with the fact that members were trained yesterday and wanted more time to look over the application and apply their training.
“To rush a process in two days is ridiculous, and we also found out today that we could potentially have more time and that that timeline of five days isn’t so concrete,” she said.
Gardner said she talked with members of Ward’s office Thursday, and they said the timeline does not need to be strict to the five-day timeline.
Following MCSC’s presentation and some other items, Diversity Committee Chair Niko Magallon voiced his concern that the body “ignored the chancellor’s mandate.” He said it was rude to MCSC to postpone the decision and he did not understand why the body could not take up the decision when it was supposed to.
In the presentation to Student Council, MCSC representative Althea Miller said the group allots 64 percent of its time to direct services to students, surpassing the “50 plus one” requirement in ASM bylaws. She also addressed the group’s role on campus.
“We believe there is systematic oppression that exists everywhere, and it is easy to see on this campus,” she said. “We tune into that, and we challenge it by using social justice … to coalition building and build relationships between our organization and other organizations.”
She said “coalition building” might sound “all ‘kumbaya,'” but that it is more than that. She said the group provides many requestable and tailorable services to any groups that approach MCSC. She said this can range from providing media, planning for events, extensively working on projects and diversity education.
Gardner told The Badger Herald Student Council will be meeting both Tuesday and Wednesday but that it is unclear when they will hold MCSC’s eligibility hearing because she needs to work with the group on availability.
