UW-Madison Chancellor John Wiley will most likely give the go ahead to the Associated Students of Madison this spring when it presents its unusually large, yet only partially completed, segregated-fees budget to his office.
Thus far the package is only 6 percent complete, with the General Student Service Funding more than doubling the current budget.
However, expected increases within the ASM internal budget and in non-allocable funding for such university-controlled programs as the Wisconsin Union mean students will be paying an unprecedented amount in student fees next semester.
The massive funding has already passed the desk of the Student Services Finance Committee, which makes budgeting decisions for applying student organizations, and the ASM general council.
The next stop is Chancellor Wiley’s desk. He will have to decide whether to allow the funding to increase, taxing students an estimated $800-plus in student fees next year. If he approves it, the budget will still have to pass the UW Board of Regents.
Wiley said while he is worried about rising tuition costs, he respects the student-run system of segregated fees and would most likely pass it on to the Regents in whole.
“I have some concerns about the overall cost of education for students,” he said “[But] I can’t single out the segregated fees and say they’re particularly horrendous.”
Wiley said he has been following the process, which culminated in over $1 million being granted to the Multicultural Student Coalition for a massive cross-cultural education campaign, “closely all semester,” but that he finds the results very democratic.
“It strikes me that what’s happened is exactly as it’s supposed to be,” he said. “It’s just the process as it’s spelled out in our shared governance rules. I don’t have any quibble about what’s happened.”
ASM Chair Jessica Miller said she has met with Wiley concerning the budget and was told he would not even open the budget up to conversation unless there were legal issues or it trampled other university policy.
“I think it’s good that he’s going to support student decisions,” she said. “That’s appropriate. That’s what he should be doing. This is a student process.”
However, some students have voiced concerns that the budget is getting out of hand.
SSFC member Matt Modell, one of the most vocal opponents of the staggering increase, said there may be even more serious issues down the road if the increases are not looked at critically.
Modell said the situation flies in the face of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in the landmark Southworth v. UW Board of Regents case, and the current follow-up case, in which former UW students are suing UW for abridging the First Amendment by compelling them to support groups they fundamentally disagree with.
Modell said part of UW’s argument was that the chancellor and the Board of Regents stand as a “safety net” for segregated fees.
He said it is “unnerving” that the chancellor will pass it without much scrutiny.
“For him to make his decision before looking at all the facts closely is frightening,” Modell said.
But Wiley said the budget will still be met with careful review.
“I’m not saying that there won’t be any changes, but I’m not going in with a mindset that I’m going to make policy changes on behalf of students,” he said. “Any changes I’m likely to make will be for technical reasons.”
He also said it would be wrong to assume that students do not support ASM’s decision. He said he the score is “50-50” between students who have said they are dismayed over the increases and those who feel the money will be well spent.
Wiley said he trusts the system will work itself out.
“I think it’s not only unfair, but unsound public policy to hope or expect the administration would pick sides,” he said.
