The Student Services Finance Committee heard two new budget proposals and approved two budgets with no cuts or debate in a meeting Thursday night.
SSFC allocated all of Greater University Tutoring Services' budget request of $109,000, an increase of $13,500 from last year. The committee made the decision with little debate and all members of the board agreed unanimously to allocate the full amount requested by the organization, which provides tutoring services to UW students.
The committee also passed The Polygon Engineering Student Council's $7,200 budget quickly and unanimously. Most of the committee members said they felt the budget was thorough and the organization made good explanations for their relatively small budget increases of $400.
"There is no excess money proposed in the Polygon budget, and everything is proportioned correctly," committee member Erica Christenson said.
The College of Agricultural and Life Sciences Student Council and Jewish Cultural Collection began the meeting with their budget presentations.
CALS, which is an umbrella organization for students and student groups in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, requested $25,074 for 2005-06, most of which will go toward supplies for new programs, such as leadership in-services, workshops and a fall picnic. The CALS student organization did not receive segregated fees for the 2004-05 fiscal year.
The most widely debated aspect of the CALS budget was the web design allocations, because the organization only used 70 percent of the money allocated for web design during the previous year. They proposed a new approach that would involve using Associated Students of Madison Student Print, instead of contracting individuals to build the organization and sub-organization's websites.
SSFC members said they intend to scrutinize the CALS budget more extensively next Monday, when breakdowns of the specific costs can be more closely evaluated.
The Jewish Cultural Collective proposed a $66,500 budget, which mainly consists of money for bringing nationally notable speakers to campus during events sponsored by the organization. Some of the organization's desired speaker fees range from $12,000 to $20,000, which JCC representatives said should not be cut.
"The JCC brings important people to campus and allows a diverse group of students to become informed about the Jewish culture," Joel Bennett, vice-chairman of JCC, said. "It's not about the Jewish religion. It's about the culture."
Bennett also noted that JCC programs, such as speakers, film festivals and movie features, give students and community members insights into the Jewish culture they might not know about.
"It's about a diversity of programming," Bennett added. "It brings people in who normally wouldn't know there even is Jewish art, or Jewish film or Jewish culture together."
He added that the expensive costs of the speakers cannot be changed.
"We can't control costs of bringing speakers to campus, or bid them out," Bennett said. "That's just what they cost."
The committee also unanimously proposed to re-review the Roman Catholic Foundation's budget during next Monday's meeting, due to a $6,000 mathematical error that was overlooked. Committee members said additional cuts to the budget may also be made.
