The Multicultural Student Coalition may have won its budget battle Thursday morning, but the war over this year’s segregated fees is far from over.
Administrative officials charged with approving segregated fee allocations are openly questioning recent student government generous budget decisions.
The combined MCSC and Diversity Education Specialists budget increase alone could significantly increase how much students pay in segregated fees.
Thursday morning, the Student Services Finance Committee granted MCSC and DES a combined total of nearly $1 million in segregated fees, the largest student organization budget ever granted. The diversity decision is the latest in a series of large student organization budget increases.
Even though five groups have not yet received budget allocations, SSFC has already run up a tab totaling nearly $2.5 million. This figure is significantly higher than the $1,523,008 allotted to student organizations this year.
If SSFC fully funds the five student organizations still awaiting budget decisions, segregated-fee-funded student organization budgets will be nearly double last year’s.
This means students can expect to pay slightly more than $70 per person to fund student organizations next year. This year, every student was billed about $40 to fund student organizations.
This figure does not include other still-undetermined segregated-fee charges. In 2001-02, students paid a total of $518 per person in segregated fees.
The student-fee increases must now be approved by the Associated Students of Madison, UW-Madison Chancellor John Wiley, UW System President Katharine Lyall and finally the UW System Board of Regents.
Assistant Vice Chancellor Bill Richner said the chancellor’s office will view the huge increases with skepticism. If the increases are over a certain threshold, the chancellor must answer to a higher level of scrutiny from the Board of Regents.
“The campus will be required to give some detailed information if it’s above that threshold,” Richner said. “The chancellor will have that in mind, [and] ASM will probably have to be prepared to speak to any increase.”
Lyall said she would be open to the SSFC recommendations, but said she must ensure the funding process was legal. Lyall also said the Madison budget should parallel the UW-System budgets.
“There is no formula for this,” Lyall said. “Students are encouraged to be prudent about it. This is their money, and we are trying to respect that. But at the same time if these look like huge increases for little value there will be some questions asked.”
In the past, these gatekeepers have mostly followed SSFC’s recommendations. But those familiar with the process said this year may be different.
“I think it’s very likely that this could be the first year that they are rejected,” former ASM chair Mike Dean said. “If the chancellor doesn’t, I think the Board of Regents definitely will.”
Even if the chancellor does allow the budget to pass, the Board of Regents still stands as the final obstacle.
Although he did support the MCSC budget, former student Regent Joe Alexander said the regents could justifiably block the budget.
“I hope student government and SSFC will be responsible in their other segregated fee funding so we will not see an increase,” Alexander said. “[The regents] frowned upon student groups who first protested 10 percent [tuition] increases and then turned around six months later requesting 20 to 30 percent increases in the portion of the budget [students] control directly.”
Even before the chancellor and the Board review SSFC’s budget, ASM could potentially amend the request when it comes up for approval in February.
“It’s up to the council what they want to do,” current ASM chair Jessica Miller said. “They have the power to make amendments on the floor and my guess is that they will do that with that budget.”
SSFC chair Lamont Smith said he understands the budget may raise eyebrows, but said he will work hard to convince ASM, the chancellor’s office and the Board of Regents that they budgeted very carefully.
“It will just be a matter of how well myself and other members of the council will be able to convey that we thought long and hard about these decisions,” Smith said.
Miller said she supports whatever changes ASM may make.
“My goal is to keep the process in the students’ hands,” she said. “They’re student fees and students should control them.”
