Members of University of Wisconsin’s student government denied InterVarsity Christian Fellowship eligibility to receive segregated fee funding for the next fiscal year at Thursday meeting.
The Associated Students of Madison’s Student Service Finance Committee denied InterVarsity eligibility for fiscal year 2014-2015 by a vote of 12 to zero, with representatives saying the organization failed to meet eligibility criteria.
InterVarsity is a student organization that seeks to establish and advance witnessing communities of students and faculty who follow the Christian religion at colleges and universities, according to their website.
SSFC representatives raised concerns about whether InterVarsity provided services to all students on campus.
Cassandra Chiao, a member of InterVarsity, said the student organization was primarily directed toward undergraduate students, as there is a separate chapter for graduate students.
SSFC Vice Chair Ian Malmstadt said InterVarsity’s calculations for their direct services only accounted for 28 weeks instead of the whole year.
Chiao said the reason for this discrepancy was while InterVarsity continues to offer its mentoring service through the summer, its Bible service and other services are only offered during the school year.
SSFC representatives said since InterVarsity does not offer services for the full year and does not reach out to all students on campus, the organization does not meet eligibility criteria.
After little debate and no questions asked, SSFC members granted eligibility to Badger Supporting Peers in Laidback Listening by a vote of 12 to zero.
BadgerSPILL’s website said the organization is a peer-to-peer support network made of and for UW students. All “spills” are confidential and will get feedback, empathy and encouragement from fellow Badgers who can relate, the website said.
All SSFC representatives agreed that SPILL met the criteria and that the majority of their services went directly to students on campus.
SSFC did not hear an eligibility presentation from Building Inter-Religious Diversity as it was not a registered student organization, thus not qualifying to receive funding.
SSFC will hear Wisconsin Public Interest Research Group’s eligibility presentation on Monday.
